A newly announced investigation into The Prince’s Foundation, one of Prince Charles’ charitable foundations comes just a week after a top aide to the Duke of Cornwall resigned over donations-for-titles or citizenship accusations. Charles had denied knowledge of any such schemes and “fully supports” the current investigation according to a new report.
Prince Charles’ Charitable Foundation Under Investigation
Prince Charles finds himself reimmersed in scandal just one week after being rocked by new allegations. Charles’ longtime aide, Michael Fawcett, resigned last week after The Sunday Times accused him of misconduct in a bombshell report. The outlet claimed Fawcett used his position to help people with the means to make hearty donations to Charles’ foundations receive royal honors or even citizenship.
Now one of Charles’ largest foundations, which was previously run by Fawcett, is under investigation following a six-figure donation from a Russian banker, Dmitry Leus. Leus had been found guilty of money laundering in a Russian court, the outlet reported, but the conviction had been overturned. The outlet reported that Prince Charles even wrote Leus a letter following the Russian’s May 2020 donation.
Prince Of Wales Allegedly Penned A Letter
In the letter, Charles reportedly made an offer to meet Leus in person after receiving the reported £100,000 donation to The Prince’s Foundation. The Scottish Charity Regulator is investigating the claims around Leus’ donations and is “working with the Prince’s Foundation” to investigate “the range of issues which have been raised,” the watchdog announced.
Douglas Connell, the current chair of The Prince Foundation said in a statement that it was taking the allegations against it “very seriously,” adding, “Following the publication of an initial allegation relating to ‘middlemen’ and donors the Trustees instigated a full and rigorous investigation with the assistance of Forensic Accountants from one of the ‘big four’ accountancy firms.”
In conclusion, he acknowledged that a full review of the allegations will take several weeks to complete, and noted that it would be “inappropriate to make any further comment at this stage” of the ongoing investigation.
Was Prince Charles Involved?
When the first allegations arose against Fawcett, Clarence House released a statement on Charles’ behalf that read, “The Prince of Wales has no knowledge of the alleged offer of honors or British citizenship on the basis of donation to his charities and fully supports the investigation now underway by The Prince’s Foundation.”
This comes at a rough time for the British royal family. Beyond the petty tabloid tales of blue-blood bickering, the family is also facing serious scandals, namely the ongoing fallout from Prince Andrew’s prior association with Jeffrey Epstein. The third child of Queen Elizabeth and the late Prince Philip has now been served with papers for a lawsuit from one of Epstein’s victims, though he is reportedly fighting against the case in court. Though the latest tabloid reports on the subject are predictably outrageous and untrue, the scandal continues to plague the royal family.