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Charles’ trial under new scrutiny over bags of cash
The cartoon image of Prince carlos rubbing his hands together gleefully as he tosses shopping bags full of bills into the back of his wine-fueled Aston Martin like something out of irreverent British sitcom the windsor is on the minds of realists today.
The image follows the shocking revelation that the heir to the throne personally received a suitcase containing 1m (just over 0.1.05m) from a politician representing a wealthy oil-producing Arab state.
It was one of three batches of cash, totaling 3 million ($3.2 million), that Prince Charles personally received from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former Qatari prime minister nicknamed ‘HBJ’, between 2011 and 2015. , “the London sunday time reports.
The story, described as “truly shocking” by a top ethics official, will cement Charles’s reputation for financial indiscipline in many minds. While it may be too much to say that he jeopardizes his succession, he certainly raises pressing and new questions about the judgment of the heir to the throne when it comes to matters of money.
at the end of last yearCharles lost his key aide Michael Fawcett, who was forced to withdraw from Charles’s foundation after it was revealed that he had organized an honor for a Saudi billionaire donor, explicitly in exchange for donations. Charles denied any knowledge of the settlement agreement, but an informed police investigation into the matter has provided no answers, remaining discreet to the point of invisibility. Prince Harry deliberately accused his father of being involved in what he described as a “scandal” over the affair.
In the latest self-inflicted disaster to hit Charles, the sunday time has revealed that Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani personally gave Charles bags of cash on three separate occasions between 2011 and 2015.
On each occasion, HBJ is said to have given the prince €1 million in 500 notes, sometimes nicknamed ‘bin Laden’ due to their use by organized crime gangs linked to terrorism. The money was once stuffed into plastic bags from Chelsea’s upscale grocery and department store Fortnum & Mason, which has a royal letter from the prince. Another time the money was in a suitcase and the third time it was in an overnight bag.
Clarence House insisted to the Times that it makes no difference that the money, which was deposited into an account at exclusive Coutts bankers, simply arrived in cash and that “all the correct processes were followed”.
However, a source described him as “one of Charles’s former advisers who handled some of the cash,” he said. sunday time that “everyone felt very uncomfortable with the situation”, adding that “the only thing we could do was count the money and make a mutual record of what we had done. And then call the bank.
A member of Qatar’s ruling al-Thani family, HBJ is a highly controversial figure, with an estimated personal fortune of $12 billion, and served as Qatar’s prime minister between 2007 and 2013, during which time he cultivated close ties. with the UK, which saw the country’s vast sovereign wealth fund invest in Harrods and London’s iconic skyscraper The Shard.
Charles is believed to have used his influence to get the Qataris to withdraw from the redevelopment of a high-profile site in Chelsea called Chelsea Barracks. The High Court said that Charles’ involvement in the affair was “unexpected and unwelcome”.
Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, told the sunday time The revelations were “truly shocking” and said: “I would not make a distinction between a politician and a member of the royal family. If the Qatari government wants to make a gift to your foundation, then there are proper ways to do these things rather than handle large sums of cash.
Beatrice’s card was reportedly declined at Glasto
At the other end of the financial scale, Princess Beatrice’s bank card was apparently declined three times in a bar at the British music festival Glastonbury. A spy told the daily star: “Tried to pay by card but was declined three times.”
Good news for your dad, Prince Andrewon the money front, though. Mirror reports that author Ingrid Seward told True Royalty TV’s The Royal Beat: “They’re not going to kick him out because he’s going to be more of a problem and he’s going to start talking and giving TV interviews and writing books. They don’t want that again. He’s going to be financially secure, but I would be very surprised if he kept the Royal Lodge.”
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Andrew smiles away
If Prince Andrew is worried about losing his title as Duke of York, after 80% of that city said they wanted to sever their ties with him, he didn’t show it on Saturday. The Mai DiaryI Showed riding merrily through the grounds of Windsor Castle.
As reported by The Daily BeastYork Central MP Rachael Maskell introduced the “Title Removal Bill”, after polls showed that 80 per cent of her citizens want to be freed from their link to shamed royalty, which has been refused. to stop using the title, which was given to him as a wedding present in 1986.
Maskell told the daily mail: “In February, when we focused on the court case that was being brought against Andrew, my constituents responded that 80% of people wanted the association with the current Duke of York to be broken. And so I met with the clerks here in the House of Commons to see how that can be achieved.”
He found that “there were no established mechanisms, not even for the monarch, to remove the title. The only real way it could be done is for Andrew to no longer call himself, by choice, the Duke of York.”
He added: “Using a title like Duke of York is an ambassadorial role, it bears the name of our city throughout the world.
“And it is a city, which is a Human Rights City, the only Human Rights City in England. We’re already in a culture shock when we talk about violence against women and girls and the issues that we’re really working hard on in the city, about making York a very safe place.”
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Epstein victim: Andrew’s photo made me “tremble” with terror
Annie Farmer, victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, says the Sun. that the photo of Andrew with Maxwell, his arm around Virginia Roberts Giuffre, makes her shiver. Farmer, speaking before Maxwell’s sentencing on Tuesday, said in an impact statement: “I remember sitting at my desk in a Houston hospital physically shaking after seeing the photo of Maxwell with Virginia Giuffre and Prince Andrew because it stuck with me. clear how his scheme had continued.”
“I never would have met Epstein if it wasn’t for you,” writes Farmer, who claims the abuse at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell occurred when she was 16. “You opened the door to hell. And then, Ghislaine, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, you used your femininity to betray us, and you guided us through it all.” The couple did “unthinkable things” to her, says Farmer.
Royals reconsider colonial legacy
One sign that the royals are at least trying to address the many horrors of Britain’s colonial past comes with the news that Prince Charles wants slavery to be publicly acknowledged, in a similar vein to the annual Holocaust commemoration.
Charles expressed his “personal pain” over the UK’s links to the slave trade during a visit to Rwanda last week, no doubt encouraged to speak out on the subject by protests over the legacy of slavery on William’s recent tour. and Kate for the Caribbean, which was criticized. in some quarters as “deaf”.
A high-ranking royal source told the sunday time: “He is a patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and points out that in the UK we now know and learn all about the Holocaust in school, so it is something that is nationally recognized and learned. That is not true of the transatlantic slave trade, and perhaps that is something that should be.
“So just like Holocaust Remembrance Day, is there a way to do it? Have a moment, have a way to remember that?
Queen Elizabeth II crowns her son Charles, Prince of Wales, during her investiture ceremony at Caernarvon Castle.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
This week in true history
July 1 is one of the strangest dates on the royal calendar, marking Princess Diana’s birth on that day in 1961, while on the same day, eight years later, in 1969, Prince Charles became Prince of Wales at an investiture ceremony at Caernarvon Castle. in North Wales.
Questions without answer
If someone showed up at your house with a million dollars in cash on three different occasions, wouldn’t you think you should call the authorities? This begs the question: will the latest mystery cash scandal simply prove embarrassing for Prince Charles, or could it take a turn for the worse and end up threatening his royal legitimacy as monarch?
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