An Australian billionaire was secretly recorded boasting of his special relationship with King Charles, revealing he made large donations to the Royal hoping to be “useful” to him.
Covert recordings of Anthony Pratt, a manufacturing magnate worth $10bn, reveal he viewed his vast wealth as “his superpower” which he used to charm powerful global figures, including the then Prince of Wales and former US president Donald Trump.
A trove of secret recordings of the executive chairman of Visy Industries was obtained by the Australian “60 Minutes” show in a joint investigation with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
According to the report, documents listed a “final payment” to “HRH” [His Royal Highness] of $182,000 in 2021. While Pratt is said to have been recorded explaining: “My superpower is that I am rich. So I am useful to him [Prince Charles], right?”
King Charles addresses assembled guests at a reception and dinner in honour of the Coronation— (Getty Images)
In another recording, made in mid-2022, Pratt says an assistant to Charles contacted him to ask if he would limit payments to donations to the senior royal’s charities.
“They’re just so close to becoming the king that he doesn’t want me to bring down the monarchy,” Pratt said. “He just doesn’t want the appearance of anything. It’s legal, but he doesn’t want to look like [anything improper].”
On the tape, Pratt says how he believed the then Prince of Wales was “undervalued political stock”.
“I just like having a cup of tea with him every year,” Pratt is heard in the recording.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told The Independent: “Mr Pratt and his charitable foundation have been supporting the former Prince of Wales’ charities for many years and, as is well-documented, he is the Founding Patron of Prince’s Trust Australia.
“It is also a matter of record that Mr Pratt is one of Australia’s foremost philanthropists, who has donated to a wide variety of charitable organisations. Any donations from Mr Pratt were therefore to support the work of the former Prince of Wales’ charitable organisations.”
The revelations come following a series of newspaper articles accusing former close confidant to the King, Michael Fawcett, of promising to help a Saudi billionaire donor achieve British citizenship and a knighthood.
Mr Fawcett resigned as chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation in the wake of the allegations. But police said having interviewed several witnesses and examined more than 200 documents no further action would be taken against him or the charity.
Mr Pratt’s relationship with Mr Trump was also exposed in the tapes after the Australian paid $200,000 to become a Mar-a-Lago member to get closer to the president.
In one of the recordings, Mr Pratt is heard recounting one incident at the former president’s Palm Beach club where Mr Trump urged Melania to don a bikini to make his friends jealous.
“He said, ‘I asked Melania to walk around the pool in a bikini so all the other guys could get a look at what they were missing,’” says Mr Pratt.
The former first lady reportedly fired back at her husband.
“Then Melania said back to him, ‘I’ll do that when you walk around with me in your bikini,’” Mr Pratt says.
Former president Trump with his wife Melania— (Getty Images)
Mr Trump responded to the revelations by lashing out at Mr Pratt in a Truth Social post, branding him a “red haired weirdo from Australia” and denying speaking to him about American submarines.
“The Failing New York Times story, leaked by Deranged Jack Smith and the Biden “Political Opponent Abuser” DOJ, about a red haired weirdo from Australia, named Anthony Pratt, is Fake News,” he wrote.
“Maggie Hagerman and the Misfits never called me for a comment. Why would they, they just write anything they want. Whether it’s correct or not is of ZERO importance to them. “All the News That’s Unfit To Print.” That’s why we call it the Fake News!”
In a statement to The New York Times, a spokesperson for Mr Trump also denied the claims in the reports saying the information came from “sources which totally lack proper context and relevant information”.
The Independent has approached Buckingham Palace and Pratt for comment.
