Sat 25 Jun 2022 23.02 BST
Prince Charles given €3m in cash in bags by Qatari politician, according to report
This article is more than 5 months old
Money was passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities, says Clarence House
The story comes as Prince Charles has been in Kigali, Rwanda during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
The story comes as Prince Charles has been in Kigali, Rwanda during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
The Prince of Wales accepted bags containing millions of euros in cash during meetings with a senior Qatari politician, according to a report.
Prince Charles was said to have been given a total of €3m (£2.6m) during meetings with Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar.
The cash was handed to the heir to the British throne in a suitcase on one occasion, a holdall on another, as well as in Fortnum & Mason carrier bags, the up-market department store which holds a royal warrant to supply the prince’s household with groceries.
The handovers are alleged to have occurred during meetings between the two men, including a private one-to-one meeting at Clarence House in 2015, it was claimed.
In a statement, a Clarence House spokesperson said the money given during the 2015 meeting was “passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities who carried out the appropriate covenants and assured us that all the correct processes were followed”.
The suitcase containing the cash was given to two of Charles’ advisers who are said to have hand-counted the money. Palace aides are said to have asked Coutts, the private bank which acts for the royal family, to collect the cash.
Each payment was deposited into the accounts of the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF). There is no suggestion the payments were illegal, the Sunday Times reported today.
The sheikh, one of the richest people in the world, was dubbed the “man who bought London” after he used his wealth, as well as his influence on the Qatari Wealth fund, to make huge investments in London including the Shard, Harrods and the InterContinental London Park Lane. He is the owner of one of the world’s richest football clubs, Paris Saint-Germain.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/25/prince-charles-is-said-to-have-been-given-3m-in-qatari-cash