Police end cash for honours probe into King Charles charity

Michael Fawcett, a close confidant of the King who ran the charity, was accused of promising to help a Saudi billionaire donor to obtain UK citizenship and a knighthood.

Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz with Prince Charles and Camilla. Picture; The Times.

Detectives investigating cash-for-honours allegations involving the Prince’s Foundation, the King’s charity, are to take no further action.

The Metropolitan Police said the decision followed advice from prosecutors. It was condemned as “a disgrace” by Norman Baker, the former Liberal Democrat minister whose letter to the police triggered the investigation.

The Met began investigating in February last year after newspaper articles accused Michael Fawcett, a close confidant of the King who ran the foundation, of promising to help a Saudi billionaire donor to obtain British citizenship and a knighthood. Fawcett quit as chief executive of the foundation.

Police said that having interviewed witnesses and examined more than 200 documents, no action would be taken. Buckingham Palace said: “We have noted the decision of the Metropolitan Police Service. All other inquiries are a matter for the Prince’s Foundation.”

A spokesman for the Prince’s Foundation said: “Following the conclusion of its own independent investigation and governance review last year, the charity is moving forward with a continued focus on delivering the education and training programs for which it has been established.”

Baker said: “This is the most open and shut case I’ve ever seen.” He said the letter from Fawcett to an aide of the Saudi donor discussing a potential honour “condemned him in his own words”. He added: “We need a clear statement from the Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police as to why no action has been taken.”

Michael Fawcett, former valet to Prince Charles and ex Chief Executive of the Prince's Foundation. Picture: Getty Images.

Michael Fawcett with then Prince Charles in 2018. Picture: Getty Images.

Royal sources said that when the investigation was launched Charles, then the Prince of Wales, was willing to co-operate with police and would speak to detectives if necessary. A source said: “His Royal Highness is happy to help if asked. He has not been.”

A Clarence House spokesman said: “The Prince of Wales had no knowledge of the alleged offer of honours or British citizenship on the basis of donation to his charities.”

Charles’s biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby, told the BBC at the time that it was “extraordinarily unlikely” the prince knew of the cash-for-honours scandal, saying the idea he could have been aware “frankly beggars belief”. His intervention followed a claim by Baker that it was “inconceivable” that Charles was not aware of the agreement with the Saudi billionaire Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz.

King Charles III at the gates of Balmoral as he takes up summer residence at the castle in Ballater. Picture: AFP.

The police investigation was into potential offences committed under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.

The investigation followed claims in The Sunday Times that Mahfouz paid tens of thousands of pounds to fixers with links to Charles who had told him they could secure an honour. Charles awarded Mahfouz an honorary CBE at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace in November 2016. Fawcett then wrote to the Saudi donor’s office in 2017 and allegedly offered help to upgrade to a knighthood, and to support his application for British citizenship.

After Fawcett’s resignation in November 2021 royal sources made clear that there was no chance of him returning. However, sources suggested to the Daily Mail that Charles had not completely cut ties with Fawcett, with one saying: “He won’t ever truly be gone”.

The Times