Prince Charles was facing further questions about his charity’s donations on Saturday after it emerged that his foundation accepted £1m from the family of Osama bin Laden.
Charles allegedly secured the money from Bakr bin Laden and his brother Shafiq, both members of one of the wealthiest families in Saudia Arabia, according to a report in The Sunday Times. However, Clarence House said that the donation was accepted by the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund and not Charles.
Both Bakr and Shafiq are half-brothers of the founder of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, through their late father, Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden.
Their father was a Yemeni-born billionaire who made his money through construction. Before his death in 1967, he had 54 children with at least 11 wives.
The bin Laden family disavowed Osama, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, decades ago. There is no suggestion that either Bakr or Shafiq bin Laden or any other mentioned family members have sponsored or been involved in acts of terrorism.
The Sunday Times reported that Charles brokered the payment after a private meeting with Bakr, 76, at Clarence House on 30 October 2013.
In a statement Clarence House said that they had been assured by The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund that “thorough due diligence was undertaken in accepting this donation”.
“The decision to accept was taken by the charity’s Trustees alone and any attempt to characterise it otherwise is false,” they added.
The Sunday Times reported that several of Charles’s advisers had asked the future king to return the donation.
One source told the paper: “Why would you do this? What good reason is there to do this? I just didn’t feel any member of the British royal family should be involved in that sort of undertaking.”
Another palace insider said: “There are other sources of money in the world.”
Chairman of the fund, Sir Ian Cheshire, told the paper that the donation had been agreed by the five trustees at the time.
He added: “The donation from Sheikh Bakr Bin Laden in 2013 was carefully considered by PWCF Trustees at the time. Due diligence was conducted, with information sought from a wide range of sources, including government. The decision to accept the donation was taken wholly by the Trustees. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is misleading and inaccurate.”
The Independent has contacted Sir Ian Cheshire for comment.
Last month, it was reported that Charles had accepted €1m (£860,000) cash in a suitcase from a Qatari sheikh.
Charles was reportedly personally handed the suitcase by Qatari politician Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. It was one of three lots of cash, which totalled €3m, which were donated to Charles’ charitable foundation.
The Charity Commission recently ruled out investigating the donations, saying: “We have assessed the information provided by the charity and have determined there is no further regulatory role for the Commission.”
