It’s a fact universally acknowledged {that a} man in possession of a fortune is often useless eager to throw it at Prince Andrew.
As a result of they carry on doing it, don’t they? They only can’t assist themselves, from the oligarch son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s then president, who so obligingly paid £3m over the asking worth for the Duke of York’s former marital house at Sunninghill Park, to the late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who so famously lent the duke’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson £15,000 to assist clear her money owed. Even after King Charles stopped paying his safety payments, Andrew is believed to have discovered what the royal journalist Robert Hardman’s biography of the king delicately calls “different sources of revenue” associated to his contacts in worldwide commerce – a phrase that makes you lengthy for the nice previous days of Fergie gamely doing WeightWatchers adverts to repay her overdraft or Princess Anne’s son-in-law happening I’m A Superstar to debate her response to his novelty boxer shorts.
And now – what are the percentages? – the duke has struck fortunate simply when he wanted it most. A thriller benefactor will foot the invoice for him to remain on at Royal Lodge, the 30-bedroom pile in Windsor Nice Park from which his older brother had been none too subtly attempting to winkle him out, and which was the final remaining perk of what’s not the forcibly retired Andrew’s job.
And no, don’t be so impertinent: after all the duke is not going to be naming this public-spirited particular person who has spared him the indignity of getting to maneuver into Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s previous gaff Frogmore Cottage (a measly 5 bedrooms plus yoga studio). As an alternative Michael Stevens, the keeper of the privy purse, has reportedly reviewed the association and deemed it to be acceptable, which is the type of complete opacity round massive donations to highly effective public figures that I feel we will all agree has labored out so magnificently prior to now. And never only for Andrew, although the time he spent as a “commerce envoy” jetting around the globe speaking to wealthy folks has lengthy been the speak of the Overseas Workplace, and his capacity to take care of a royal-adjacent life-style on no discernible revenue (now that his brother has reportedly reduce off his annual allowance) past a navy pension have to be the envy of many a veteran.
Again within the days when the king himself was simply plain previous Prince Charles, fundraising arduous for his much-admired community of charities, a little bit of old school discretion should even have appeared extra interesting than the type of undignified public fuss brought on by Sunday newspaper studies in regards to the prime minister of Qatar handing him £2.6m in money – a few of it stuffed into Fortnum & Mason provider baggage, as one does. (Although Clarence Home confused the cash had been instantly handed on to one of many prince’s charities, that didn’t fully reply the query for these whose concern was primarily about his impartiality when representing Britain on the world stage, not his financial institution steadiness.) On the time these studies surfaced, in 2022, the Metropolitan police had already been compelled to launch an inquiry into separate claims {that a} former chief govt of the Prince’s Basis had allegedly provided to assist safe honours and citizenship for a rich Saudi donor – although luckily for all involved, these inquiries ended with no motion being taken and a quiet severing of royal ties with the trustworthy retainer involved.
Some may assume the Duke of York a somewhat much less enticing funding proposition today, what with being first publicly tainted by his affiliation with Epstein after which stripped of his royal duties after a ham-fisted try to clarify all of it to journalist Emily Maitlis. Bankrolling him at this stage in what’s left of his profession appears the very reverse of the sportswashing phenomenon that has seen China internet hosting a reputation-laundering Winter Olympics and even the greenwashing of which the oil-rich Azerbaijani regime is accused now that it’s internet hosting the Cop29 local weather summit – arguably the very last thing you’re securing by preserving the Prince Andrew present on the highway is a halo by affiliation. Which raises the far more attention-grabbing query: what, precisely, are you getting as an alternative?
Maybe we’re all merely underestimating the non-public charms of the monarch’s youthful brother, a few of whose rich associates appear to have remained touchingly loyal even after he needed to pay an estimated £12m out-of-court settlement within the civil case introduced towards him by Epstein trafficking sufferer Virginia Giuffre, with whom he has all the time denied having a sexual relationship. (Come to think about it, has it ever been fully clear the place that cash was coming from?) However in a world awash with soiled money and decidedly murky geopolitical pursuits, to not point out billionaires on the lookout for back-door methods into the British institution – nicely, let’s simply say parliament may wish to make some pressing inquiries, and make them extra strategically than standard.
The error MPs have made prior to now is to comply with public cash, demanding to know what taxpayers are being compelled to spend on the royals’ maintenance in a value of dwelling disaster, somewhat than following the strategic curiosity and asking who precisely is now bankrolling them as an alternative. Possibly princes nonetheless consider in fairy godmothers waving a wand and magicking all their cares away. However the remainder of us, sadly, are a bit too previous for fairytales.
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Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
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