Saudi donor’s emails worried Prince Harry

Prince Harry severed ties with the Saudi billionaire at the centre of the police inquiry ­engulfing his father because of fears the relationship would raise questions about ‘cash-for-access’.

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

Prince Harry severed ties with the billionaire Saudi donor at the centre of the police inquiry ­engulfing his father, the Prince of Wales, because of fears the relationship would raise questions about “cash-for-access”, leaked emails reveal.

Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz went on to donate £1.5m to Charles’s charities ­instead, and was later handed a CBE by Charles. The Metropolitan Police announced last week that it was investigating whether the honour was awarded to Mr Mahfouz in return for his cash.

Charles, 73, says he has “no knowledge” of any trade-off ­between donations and honours and that Harry’s apparent concerns were never shared with him. Mr Mahfouz also ­denies any wrongdoing.

Sunday’s revelations centre on Harry’s dealings with Mr Mahfouz in 2014, when Harry was seeking donations for Sentebale, a charity that he co-founded to help children affected by HIV in Lesotho, southern Africa.

Harry, then 30, had agreed to private meetings with Mahfouz, 52, and his teenage sons after being told that a £1m donation was on offer. However, in the spring of 2014, Mr Mahfouz’s representative told Mark Dyer, a Sentebale trustee and former royal equerry known as Harry’s “second dad”, that there was a new precondition: Mr Mahfouz first wanted Harry to make a private visit to Saudi Arabia to meet him and his family. Only then would the funds be transferred.

On May 31, 2014, Mr Dyer sent the representative an email expressing his concern: “Are we really saying that if PH [Prince Harry] commits to a trip to Saudi, Sentebale will receive the ­donation? I am seeing PH today at Windsor; I will brief him on the situation and see if he now wants to commit to a trip, but this certainly was not our understanding … It is starting to bring into question ‘cash-for-access’.”

The same day, Mr Mahfouz’s representative responded by ­insisting that the proposed Saudi visit had originally been mooted and encouraged by Charles.

On June 1, 2014, Dyer wrote back to Mahfouz’s fixer: “ … I then discussed with PH and quite rightly he has a major concern that we are loosing [sic] touch with what all this is about … it’s not about M [Mahfouz] meeting PH and introducing him to his friends and [Mahfouz’s ­adviser] having as many photos as possible of PH on his desk, its [sic] about the children of Lesotho and Sentebale making a difference to their lives.”

“At no stage have we committed to a visit, we discussed maybe in the future meeting privately for a weekend on a boat … What has now happened is a promise of a £1m donation but it now comes with a commitment to a visit … that was not my understanding.”

Mr Mahfouz later gave at least £50,000 to Sentebale, but neither the bigger donation nor the visit to Saudi Arabia materialised.

Mr Mahfouz instead increased his donations to charities connected to Charles.

The Sunday Times