Revealed: Prince Andrew’s close confidant a Chinese ‘spy’ banned from UK

London: A “close confidant” of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, is an alleged Chinese spy who has been banned from entering the United Kingdom on national security grounds.

The man, a former civil servant known only as H6, was so close to Andrew that he had been told he could act on the prince’s behalf when dealing with potential investors in China, according to a secret hearing.

He was also invited to Andrew’s birthday party in 2020, and was described by the judges overseeing the case as a “close confidant of the duke”.

Prince Andrew, Duke of York, attends the Thanksgiving Service for King Constantine of the Hellenes at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, England, in February.Credit: AP

However, the Home Office decided to exclude H6, aged 50, from the UK in July 2023 after MI5 deemed him to be an agent who had engaged in “covert and deceptive activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that he posed a threat to national security.

A letter from a senior adviser to Andrew was found on H6’s phone, stating that he was authorised to act on behalf of the royal in engagements with potential partners and investors in China.

H6 challenged this, but a special immigration commission has now ruled that Suella Braverman, the home secretary and a secretary of state at the time, was justified in her decision to ban him from the UK.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, welcomes Prince Andrew at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 2018.Credit: AP

In their 53-page ruling, the judges said Andrew could have been made “vulnerable” to the misuse of H6’s influence.

In a ruling overnight, Justice Charles Bourne, Judge Stephen Smith and Sir Stewart Eldon said: “The secretary of state was entitled to conclude that the applicant represented a risk to the national security of the United Kingdom, and that she was entitled to conclude that his exclusion was justified and proportionate.”

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) initially granted H6 anonymity, but this was lifted by the judges to take effect from December 12. H6 appealed the lifting of the anonymity order and was granted “interim relief”, meaning that it will be decided by the High Court at a future date whether he should be named.

The SIAC hearing was told that the contents of the businessman’s mobile telephone was downloaded when he was stopped under counter-terrorism laws at a UK border in 2021.

The mobile’s contents revealed that Andrew authorised the man to set up an international financial initiative known as the Eurasia Fund to engage with potential partners and investors in China.

The phone contained a March 2021 letter from Dominic Hampshire, a senior adviser to the prince, confirming the businessman could act on behalf of the royal in engagements with potential partners and investors in China.

The letter stated: “I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal and indeed his family. You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship … outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.”

It added that after a meeting with Andrew, they had “wisely navigated our way around former private secretaries and we have found a way to carefully remove those people who we don’t completely trust”.

It said: “Under your guidance, we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor.”

Threat to national security

The immigration judges were told that in a briefing for the home secretary in July 2023, officials claimed H6 had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials “that could be leveraged for political interference purposes”.

They also said that H6 had downplayed his relationship with the Chinese state, which combined with his relationship with Andrew represented a threat to national security.

At a hearing in July, the specialist tribunal heard that the businessman was told by an adviser to Andrew that he could act on his behalf when dealing with potential investors in China, and that H6 had been invited to Andrew’s birthday party in 2020.

The judges said: “The applicant won a significant degree, one could say an unusual degree, of trust from a senior member of the royal family who was prepared to enter into business activities with him.

“That occurred in a context where, as the contemporaneous documents record, the duke was under considerable pressure and could be expected to value the applicant’s loyal support.

“It is obvious that the pressures on the duke could make him vulnerable to the misuse of that sort of influence.

“That does not mean that the home secretary could be expected to exclude from the UK any Chinese businessman who formed a commercial relationship with the duke or with any other member of the royal family.”

Man ‘not candid’ about China links

In 2020, Andrew found himself under increasing pressure following the disastrous Newsnight interview about his connections with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted paedophile who died in 2019.

He was effectively sacked as a working member of the royal family, and stripped of all honorary military titles and patronages.

He is understood to have paid about $US12 million to settle the case brought against him by Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of raping and abusing her three times in 2001 when she was 17. Andrew vehemently denies Giuffre’s claims.

King Charles is thought to have funded the prince after he left public life, with a reported annual allowance of £1 million ($2 million) per year. However, the King is understood to have severed the allowance earlier this year.

Recently, he has been involved in wrangling with his brother over whether he has sufficient funds to continue living at Royal Lodge.

As the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment, Andrew was said to have particularly close ties to China, visiting the country on several occasions between 2004 and 2011 when he stepped down amid criticism over his friendship with Epstein.

In 2014, he called on British business to grasp opportunities offered by China, telling the BBC they needed to be less polite, more competitive, “more bullish” and embrace the Chinese market.

In 2015, he played a high-profile role during an incoming state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, joining the CCP leader on multiple engagements.

The three judges said H6 had enjoyed a private life in the UK, which had been described as the businessman’s “second home”, adding: “He has settled status, a home and extensive business interests in the United Kingdom. He was regarded as a close confidant of the duke.”

The judges added the home secretary was “rationally entitled to decide” there was a potential to leverage the relationship, adding H6 was “not candid” about his links to the CCP.

The Telegraph, London