The UK government and the Charity Commission have been urged to examine controversial claims regarding the funding of Prince Charles’ charities by a Qatari sheikh, reported UK media.
Fresh controversy was triggered on Sunday after a report in The Sunday Times said that the heir to the British throne had accepted three large cash donations between 2011 and 2015 from former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani.
The donations, totaling €3 million (£2.6m) and purportedly delivered in three installments in a suitcase, a holdall and carrier bags from Fortnum & Mason were described as “shocking” by critics.
After being allegedly hand-counted by Prince Charles’s aides, the cash was subsequently collected by Coutts bank and transferred to the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF).
The fund, which seeks to “transform lives and build sustainable communities” through awarding grants, told the outlet its trustees had concluded that the donor was legitimate and its auditors had signed off on the donation.
There is no specific mention of cash donations in the royal family’s guidelines. It is only stated that members of the royal family are allowed to accept a cheque as a patron of, or on behalf of, a charity with which they are associated, at the sole discretion.
‘Not Fit to be King’
Despite no suggestion of anything illegal about the donations, critics voiced serious concerns, citing Qatar’s human rights track record.
One critic cited by UK media likened the reported hand counting of cash by Prince Charles’s aides to a ludicrous sitcom scene.
The campaign group Republic, a pressure group urging abolition of the monarchy, has demanded full disclosure from Prince Charles over the latest controversy. It slammed the “shocking” claims and said it would be writing to the royal himself, the government, MPs and the Charity Commission.
“Prince Charles met Sheikh Hamad in private, with no officials present and with no disclosure of the meeting in the court circular,” said Graham Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Republic. He added:
“Sheikh Hamad faces serious accusations over human rights and has significant financial and other interests here in the UK.”
Former government minister and Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Baker, shared these concerns.
“A million dollars in cash stuffed into Fortnum and Mason bags, or shoved into a holdall or a suitcase, and handed over behind closed doors. This is what one might expect from a South American drug baron, not the heir to the British throne. It seems there are no lengths Charles will not go to get money for his good causes.”
The current controversy over donations to Prince Charles’s funds is not new.
Last year, the royal’s closest aide, Michael Fawcett, was forced to resign as CEO of The Prince’s Foundation after The Mail on Sunday published a letter from 2017 in which he reportedly wrote that he was willing to make an application to change businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz’s honorary CBE to a KBE, and support his application for British citizenship.
Earlier in the year, the Metropolitan police revealed it was investigating the honours claim under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925, after complaints, including from Norman Baker.
Reacting to the fresh claims regarding Prince Charles, Norman Baker was cited as saying:
“[Charles] is already involved in a police investigation as a result of my complaint to the Metropolitan police last year. This is grubby, scuzzy behaviour which reinforces the view many are reaching: that Charles is not fit to be king.”
London-headquartered private bank Coutts declined to discuss specific transactions, but a spokesperson was cited by he Mail on Sunday as saying:
“We have longstanding and robust policies and controls to assess the source, nature and purpose of large and unusual transactions. In particular, receipt of cash payments by the bank receive thorough review and oversight.”
In response to the media row, Clarence House - the private office of the Prince of Wales – stated:
“Charitable donations received from Sheikh bin Jassim were passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities, who carried out the appropriate governance and have assured us that all the correct processes were followed.”