Prince Charles gave an honour to a Tory peer who spent £1.7million bailing out his failed eco-village project, according to reports.
The Scottish Charity Regulator said it was investigating claims the Prince of Wales gave Lord Brownlow the award at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace after he stepped in to save the faltering scheme.
The peer’s firm, Havisham Properties, purchased 11 properties on the Knockroon development in Ayrshire - originally acquired as a piece of farmland by Prince Charles when he bought the nearby mansion, Dumfries House.
Afterwards, the tycoon was given the position of a trustee at the Prince’s Foundation and then was made a Commander of the Victorian Order in 2018. A CVO can be awarded by the monarchy without the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
The Sunday Times reported that the Prince’s charity also opened up Dumfries House for Lord Brownlow’s 50th birthday and that his company was awarded a £1.2million construction contract.
Both Lord Brownlow and Prince Charles denied it was a cash-for-honours deal.
The Prince’s Foundation said: “Lord Brownlow was appointed CVO in recognition of his role of chair of The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community.”
A spokesman for the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator said: “We can confirm that the work of Havisham Group and property transactions relating to the Knockroon development in Ayrshire forms part of our overall investigation, work on which is ongoing.”
It was claimed the prince personally accepted the cash donations for his charity the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF) between 2011 and 2015 from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim who was prime minister of Qatar between 2007 and 2013.
Clarence House said the donations were “passed immediately” to one of the prince’s charities and that “appropriate governance” was carried out.
A source then confirmed the future king operates on advice and such incidents have not happened in the past half decade and would not happen again.
