A close adviser to Prince Charles has claimed “everyone felt very uncomfortable” after it was alleged he accepted a suitcase stuffed with €1million from a billionaire sheikh.
The Prince of Wales is facing awkward questions after the Sunday Times reported he allegedly received €3million in total for his charity fund from Qatar 's former prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.
According to the paper, the payments were made between 2011 and 2015 and on one occasion the sheikh allegedly handed €1million in cash to Charles during a meeting at Clarence House.
It is believed it was immediately handed to aides who arranged for the money to be passed in full to the charity.
However, one of Charles’s former advisers who handled some of the cash said “everyone felt very uncomfortable about the situation”.
They added the “only thing we could do was to count the money and make a mutual record of what we’d done. And then call the bank”.
On another occasion, cash was allegedly stuffed into carrier bags from upmarket store Fortnum & Mason.
The report said the money was given in €500 notes, a now discontinued denomination dubbed the “Bin Laden” for its links to terrorist financing.
It is understood that at least one trustee of the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Fund had no knowledge of the funds.
Also, none of Charles’ meetings with Sheikh Hamad, 62, appears on the Court Circular record of royal engagements.
Royals are advised never to accept cash donations and Clarence House insists everything was above board.
A Clarence House spokesman said: “Charitable donations received from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim were passed immediately to one of the Prince’s charities who carried out the appropriate governance and have assured us that all the correct processes were followed.” However Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said that the disclosures are “truly shocking” and would be “inconceivable” to most people.
In November, Michael Fawcett, Charles’ right-hand man for decades, stepped down from his role running one of his main charities weeks after the Sunday Times claimed he had offered honours in return for donations. The police and the Charity Commission are investigating those claims.
Get all the latest news sent to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror newsletter
A spokesman for the prince has said that Charles had no knowledge of the alleged offer of honours or citizenship on the basis of donations. Mr Fawcett has not commented publicly.
Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic yesterday demanded full disclosure from Charles over this latest controversy and said it would be writing to him, the Government, MPs and the Charity Commission about it.
Graham Smith, of Republic, said the claims are “shocking” and raised ethical questions.
He added: “Prince Charles met Sheikh Hamad in private, with no officials present and with no disclosure of the meeting in the court circular. Sheikh Hamad faces serious accusations over human rights and has significant financial and other interests here in the UK.”
Norman Baker, a former government minister and Liberal Democrat MP, who has written a book on royal finances, said: “A million dollars in cash stuffed into Fortnum & Mason bags, or shoved into a holdall or a suitcase, and handed over behind closed doors.
“This is what one might expect from a South American drug baron, not the heir to the British throne.”
