Formal security vetting and due diligence appear not to have been carried out before the appointment of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as a trade envoy, the government has said, as it emerged that the late queen was “very keen” for her son to take a prominent role in promoting Britain’s interests.
The first batch of documents relating to the appointment of the then prince as trade envoy by Tony Blair in 2001 includes a memo dated 25 February 2000 and addressed to Robin Cook, the then foreign secretary, in which the then chief executive of British Trade International (BTI), David Wright, said Queen Elizabeth II’s “wish” had been for Mountbatten-Windsor to take on the role.
The documents also show that Mountbatten-Windsor’s aide told the government he preferred to go to “sophisticated countries”, and to see ballet rather than theatre on overseas visits. He “should not be offered private golfing functions abroad”, said the aide, as this was a “private activity” and if the then Duke of York “took his clubs with him, he would not play in any public sense”.
His team also preferred that Mountbatten-Windsor’s travels in his royal or military capacities be kept separate, and “if he was visiting as a member of the navy, they would prefer it if he did not also undertake royal duties”.
The government published historical documents concerning the appointment on Thursday in response to a parliamentary move by the Liberal Democrats. It said it had found no evidence that formal due diligence or security vetting were carried out at the time, despite the role giving Mountbatten-Windsor access to senior government and business contacts around the world.
“We have found no evidence that a formal due diligence or vetting process was undertaken. There is also no evidence that this was considered,” Chris Bryant, a trade minister, said in a written statement to parliament.
Bryant said this was “understandable since this new appointment was a continuation of the royal family’s involvement in trade and investment promotion work”, and because Mountbatten-Windsor was replacing the Duke of Kent, who was stepping down from his role as vice-chair of the Overseas Trade Board.
The question of “vetting” Mountbatten-Windsor would not have “entered anyone’s head”, and would have been an anachronism and “completely alien” in 2001, according to Andrew Turnbull, a former civil servant who was permanent secretary to the Treasury at the time.
As a prince and duke, he was “showered with honours” and vetting him would have meant asking whether he was “fit and proper”, Lord Turnbull told Radio 4’s World at One. Nobody was going to suggest this, Turnbull said, especially if the late queen’s wish was for him to have the role.
The publication of 11 documents that show how the role was created and Mountbatten-Windsor appointed, comes after the Liberal Democrats tabled a humble address in parliament calling for the publication of papers on his role, including any vetting and any correspondence from Peter Mandelson, the disgraced former ambassador to the US.
In the February 2000 memo to Cook, Wright suggested Mountbatten-Windsor’s role would include some regional trips and two or three overseas visits each year, as well as a “leading trade mission from time to time”.
The senior official said he “did not envisage that the Duke of York would want to be burdened with the regularity of meetings of the board of British Trade International or the burden of paper which goes along with the board membership”.
While the late queen was “very keen” for Mountbatten-Windsor to take on the role, his team suggested that he emphasise it was “a mutual agreement” with the palace, in a briefing note to the former prince before an interview with the Times in 2001.
Mountbatten-Windsor served as the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment from 2001 to 2011, an unpaid role in which he travelled the world meeting senior business and government figures.
An internal telegram to staff of the BTI advised the need for “careful and sometimes strict media management” of his engagements as trade envoy.
The second son of the late queen became the first royal family member to be arrested in modern times when he was held over claims of misconduct in public office. Emails appeared to show him sharing confidential information with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while working as the trade representative. He has previously denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Bryant told MPs the government was not expecting to publish any more files about the appointment. “Of course we will keep on looking, notwithstanding the complexity that there is about searching in paper-based systems in multiple different departments.
“I guarantee the house that if there is more to publish, I will come back to the house with more, but I suspect that this may be our last tranche.”
