London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Charles has ‘no knowledge’ of alleged offer of honours, says

Charles has ‘no knowledge’ of alleged offer of honours, says

Clarence House says Prince of Wales supports investigation after he and trusted aide reported to police
The Prince of Wales has “no knowledge” of the alleged honours and citizenship controversy, Clarence House has said, after Charles and his most trusted aide were reported to the police over the claims.

At least two complaints have been made to the Metropolitan police over allegations that a wealthy Saudi businessman was offered help to secure an honour and British citizenship after donating to Charles’s charities.

The former government minister Norman Baker and the campaign group Republic have said the allegations should be the subject of an investigation.

Michael Fawcett, a former assistant valet to Charles, temporarily stepped down as chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation after claims by Sunday newspapers that he helped coordinate an honour relating to Dr Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz.

Mahfouz, who received a CBE in 2016, donated £1.5m to restoration projects close to Charles, including Dumfries House, where a garden and fountain are named after the prince, and Castle of Mey in Scotland, where a wood bears his name, the Sunday Times reported, adding that Mahfouz had denied any wrongdoing.

The Prince’s Foundation is conducting an investigation.

A Clarence House spokesperson said: “The Prince of Wales has no knowledge of the alleged offer of honours or British citizenship on the basis of donation to his charities and fully supports the investigation now under way by the Prince’s Foundation.”

Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat minister, wrote to the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, to urge a police investigation into the affair.

Baker said a letter, published by the Mail on Sunday, allegedly from Fawcett to an aide at the Mahfouz Foundation, appeared to be “prima facie” evidence of an offence.

In the 2017 letter, Fawcett allegedly wrote that in the light of Mahfouz’s ongoing generosity “we are willing and happy to support and contribute to the application for citizenship”, the Mail on Sunday reported. It added that they were willing to seek to upgrade the CBE to KBE.

Baker, an author and critic of the royal family, said he had written to Dick “to say that in the light of the full transcript of the letter, there appears to me to be prima facie evidence that an offence has been committed under the Honours [prevention of abuses] Act 1925.”

“If politicians had engaged in selling honours, or in offering support for citizenship, they would be in big trouble. And the same thing should apply to Prince Charles,” he said.

Baker believes any investigation should examine what Prince Charles was aware of at the time.

A second complaint to police was made by the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic. Graham Smith, Republic CEO, said: “Failure to properly investigate these matters will damage public trust in the police, the royals and the honours system.”

The Times reported that Charles was “100%” behind the offer to help the Saudi billionaire, according to a fixer, described by the newspaper as a paid adviser to Mahfouz, and the royal had met Mahfouz in Riyadh, Clarence House, and at Dumfries House, in 2014 and 2015.

Baker said he believed the questions lead directly to Charles. “Of course,” he said, describing Charles and Fawcett as “Tweedledum and Tweedledee”.

The prince gave Mahfouz, 51, his “honorary” CBE – for those who are not British or Commonwealth nationals – at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace in November 2016.

Fawcett, who in 2003 was cleared of financial misconduct allegations over the selling of royal gifts, was appointed chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation in 2018 after a reorganisation of Charles’s charities.

A Clarence House spokesperson said: “It is right that the Prince’s Foundation is taking the investigation so seriously and we will not be commenting further whilst it is ongoing.”

Fawcett began his royal service in 1981 as a footman to the Queen, before rising through the ranks.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×