Prince Charles linked to ‘cash for honours’ scandal

UK police will review emails sent by royal advisers as new links are revealed between Prince Charles and a Saudi billionaire.

Mahfouz bin Mahfouz with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall after receiving his CBE at Buckingham Palace in 2016.

On a November afternoon in 2016, Prince Charles arrived at Buckingham Palace dressed in his gold and black military uniform to conduct an investiture – the ­bestowing of an honour on behalf of the Queen.

Such ceremonies are familiar to both the royals and the public. Up to 60 recipients are usually ­invited to either the palace ballroom or a room at Windsor Castle, and are called forwards one by one by the lord chamberlain. The Queen, or another member of the royal family representing her, then places the decoration on the person and briefly congratulates them.

Every detail of the ceremony is kept carefully in line with tradition, from the two Gurkhas who accompany the monarch into the ballroom – a practice begun by Queen Victoria in 1876 – to the playing of the national anthem and the calling forward of recipients.

This investiture, however, was to be very different. Charles headed not to the ballroom but to Buckingham Palace’s Blue Drawing Room, a stunning hall of hanging chandeliers and gold-rimmed furniture into which members of the public are rarely admitted.

Only one person was to receive an award in the resplendent room – which historically has been used by the Queen to welcome world leaders, including Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau and Narendra Modi.

That recipient was Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, a Saudi billionaire, whose honour had been fixed for him by Charles’s closest aides after he promised millions of pounds in donations to the charity that funds two of the prince’s most cherished estates, Dumfries House and the Castle of Mey.

Unlike many investiture ceremonies, the one for Mahfouz’s CBE – which is the subject of police inquiries – would never ­appear in the court circular.

Unlike most honour recipients, Mahfouz was not required to share his moment with a queue of dozens of other members of the public. He was allowed to bring several members of his family into the palace with him, where they met Charles’s wife, the Duchess of Cornwall.

The only others present were several officials and a photographer. His fixer, who had colluded with royal aides to organise the honour, was asked to wait outside, in the nearby music room.

Mahfouz, 51, was beaming: he had spent years seeking recognition for himself and his family. In Charles, he had found the perfect partner: royal aides had earlier told his representatives that, in return for millions of pounds in donations to the prince’s country estate, they would get him an honour.

Mahfouz arrived with an entourage including his two older brothers, Mohammed and Abdullah, and his teenage son.

When it came to the ceremony itself, Mahfouz shook hands with Charles and Camilla, before the prince gave him an award. He then beckoned over Abdullah, who was also allowed to pose for photos with the future king.

Afterwards, Mahfouz appears to have had the run of the place: his family took pictures kissing each other’s hands, sitting on priceless furniture, and posing in front of an oil on canvas of George V.

For weeks, Clarence House has insisted that Charles had no knowledge of the “cash-for-honours deal” that has led to a Metropolitan Police initial inves­tigation, inquiries by English and Scottish regulators, and the resignation of his top aide, Michael Fawcett.

But details of the investiture, and further evidence, pose new questions as to what Charles knew when and suggest he will be a vital witness to Scotland Yard. The Sunday Times has revealed that Charles had far more contact with Mahfouz than first thought.

As well as the private investiture, Charles took part in several private meetings with Mahfouz, wrote him a letter and even sent the Saudi a gift. All this took place while Fawcett fixed Mahfouz a CBE in the background.

The disclosures will put fresh pressure on Charles, 73, to provide a full account of his dealings with Mahfouz days after Prince Harry intervened in the row by claiming that he had “expressed concerns” about Mahfouz’s motivations, ­before cutting him off.

The first meeting between Charles and Mahfouz took place on March 27, 2014, at Clarence House, the prince’s official residence. Fawcett, 59, and Mahfouz’s fixer also attended. It is understood that the pair discussed the prince’s restoration of Dumfries House, the 18th-century Ayrshire mansion where he stays four times a year, and the possibility that the Saudi might donate a seven-figure sum to it.

Days later, the fixer put the proposed partnership in writing: for the sum of £1m, Charles would personally rename the newly ­restored gardens at Dumfries House as the Mahfouz Garden. The fixer added that continued “friendship building” would lead to exclusive access to the prince and “further very special personal and individual honours as per our conversation”, adding: “These are, at this stage, too sensitive to mention here.”

Charles then sent a thankyou letter to Mahfouz and even a gift, a miniature carriage clock. Clarence House would not say who produced the gift or how much it cost.

Mahfouz was delighted by Charles’s display of friendship and started donating the month after the meeting. In turn, representatives escalated talks about the honour, organising another gathering in Clarence House – not attended by the prince or Mahfouz – to discuss next steps. Mahfouz also received the access and recognition he had been promised, including an invitation to meet the Queen, Prince Philip and Charles at a rare gathering of senior royals at Dumfries House that July.

Mahfouz was unable to attend because of Ramadan.

The opening ceremony for the Mahfouz Garden and the Mahfouz Foundation at the Ayrshire estate took place on October 20, 2014. Mahfouz and Charles opened the foundation before ­retiring indoors where they engaged in a perfume-smelling ceremony, and posed for photos.

This same month, Mahfouz’s fixers and Charles’s aides had hammered out a first draft of the honours application form and sent it to the British embassy in Riyadh. As a Saudi national, ­Mahfouz was to receive an “honorary” CBE, designed for those who are not British citizens and overseen by the Foreign ­Office. For months, there was ­silence as to the outcome of the application or whether it had even been received.

All of that was to change in February 2015, when Charles embarked upon an official tour of the Middle East, including a visit to meet the Saudi royal family.

What the royal press corps did not know was that Charles also used the trip to pay a visit to Mahfouz. On February 11, Charles and Fawcett arrived at the British embassy to meet him and his extended family.

Clarence House said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss “shared charitable interests”.

This conflicts with another witness’s characterisation of events, which is that Mahfouz had specifically wanted to introduce Charles to the ultimate source of his charitable donations, his ­father, Sheik Mahfouz, and that the meeting fulfilled this. Newly unearthed evidence shows that Charles met 10 members of Mahfouz’s family, making conversation over a spread of tea, sandwiches and chocolate-coated dates. He also posed for photos with individual members of the family and the Mahfouz clan.

It is believed that local diplomatic staff took the images and provided the spread, posing questions about the use of public funds. But it is Charles whose account of the event matters most. Less than 24 hours after the summit, the Foreign Office finally responded to the prince’s aides about the honour for Mahfouz, apologising for the delay and providing tailored advice on next steps.

The next year Mahfouz finally had his wish granted in the secret ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

Clarence House reissued a statement on Saturday night, saying: “The Prince of Wales has no knowledge of the alleged offer of honours on the basis of donation to his charities.”

A palace source said it was up to the award recipient to decide whether they wished to make a picture of their investiture public, both for honorary or standard honours. It added that honorary awards were not part of the standard investitures process, noting that they are frequently presented in the British embassy of the individual’s home country or “at any relevant occasion” when the recipient is in Britain.

The Sunday Times