Britain's Prince Charles accepted large cash donations totalling €3 million from a former Qatari prime minister, the Sunday Times has reported.
The newspaper 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.
“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,” a statement said.
According to the Sunday Times, a donation of €1 million was handed over during a meeting at the prince’s residence, Clarence House.
PWCF has been contacted for comment by the PA news agency but its chairman Ian Cheshire told the newspaper “there was no failure of governance”.
The charity, which was founded in 1979 with a mission to transform lives and build sustainable communities, awards grants to UK registered non-profit organisations to deliver projects in the UK, Commonwealth and overseas.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said he was confident the donations would have gone through “proper due process”.
Asked about the report on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme, Mr Lewis said: “This isn’t a government issue, but what I have seen is the palace have been very clear, that all monies go through proper due process, the charities obviously go through proper due process.
“I’m confident having had some dealings with charities, The Prince’s Trust, The Prince’s Foundation, around the palace in the past myself, that these will have gone through proper due process.”
It comes as another of Charles’s charities, the Prince’s Foundation, is currently under investigation by the Metropolitan Police over an alleged cash-for-honours scandal.
The prince, and his close friend Michael Fawcett, were formally reported to the Met Police last September when allegations of cash-for-honours first surfaced in newspaper reports.
Mr Fawcett, who has since resigned as chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation, has been accused of promising to help a Saudi billionaire donor receive British citizenship and a knighthood.
Clarence House has previously said that the prince had “no knowledge” of the alleged cash-for-honours.
The Prince’s Foundation was created through the merger, in 2018, of The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, The Prince’s Regeneration Trust, The Great Steward of Scotland’s Dumfries House Trust and The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts.
It champions sustainability and runs education and training programmes.
