The Sunday Times November 14, 2021 2GN 9
NEWS
Michael Fawcett
has quit as head
of the Prince’s
Foundation and
Clarence House
said it has cut all
ties with himPrince Charles’s closest adviser told a
Saudi donor he would be very happy to
help him secure an OBE while soliciting a
£10 million donation from him, accord-
ing to leaked letters that place fresh pres-
sure on Scotland Yard to investigate the
“cash-for-honours” scandal.
Michael Fawcett also wrote that the
prince would back Mahfouz bin Mah-
fouz’s application for British citizenship.
The adviser resigned as chief executive
of the prince’s flagship charity last week
and Clarence House said it had cut all ties
with him.
He had faced weeks of scrutiny after
The Sunday Times revealed he helped
secure an honour for Mahfouz, one of the
future king’s biggest donors. The Saudi
billionaire had given £1.5 million to royal
charities. He was made a CBE, a higher
honour even than the initial OBE initially
discussed, by Charles in November 2016.
Fawcett is still the subject of a criminal
complaint over a suspected breach of the
Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.
The Metropolitan Police first received a
complaint more than two months ago but
last night said it was still making “initial
inquiries”, adding: “No investigation has
been launched.” Asked if Dame Cressida
Dick, the commissioner, or her detectives
had been in touch with royal family mem-
bers or officials about the matter, they
did not respond. They refused to say if a
single witness had been interviewed.
The cache of letters from Fawcett, 59,
will add to calls for a formal inquiry. In
one letter, sent on July 29, 2014, he wrote
to Mahfouz’s representative saying there
were “three possibilities” for donations
to Dumfries House, Charles’s beloved
18th century mansion and estate in Ayr-shire. These were a “one-off ” sum of
£350,000 for a “designer bridge”;
£325,000 a year to fund education and
training initiatives; or £10 million to
“design and build houses” in the area.
He then wrote: “With regard to sup-
porting a nomination for an honorary
OBE for His Excellency [Mahfouz], we
would be very happy to send any such let-
ter in due course outlining his philan-
thropy and ongoing generosity to the UK
in heritage-led regeneration. I will come
back to you when I have discovered more
about the necessary process that needs to
be followed.”
Over the next year and a half, Fawcett
and other officials at Charles’s charities
choreographed Mahfouz’s application
for an honour, which the prince
bestowed upon him in an unpublicised
investiture at Buckingham Palace.
In another letter, dated April 25, 2014,
Fawcett declared Charles also personally
supported Mahfouz’s bid for a British
passport. He said: “You mentioned His
Excellency’s application for citizenship
and I can only reiterate to you that bothPolice told to act as new letters confirm
Charles aide sought OBE for Saudi donor
Disgraced adviser also
said the prince would
back Mahfouz bin
Mahfouz’s bid for
British citizenship
Gabriel Pogrund and Dipesh Gadherour trustees, and, importantly His Royal
Highness supports this application 100
per cent, as there is no greater example of
contribution than that of His Excellency.”
It is understood that Mahfouz owns a
property in London but it is unclear if he
ever obtained residency.
The documents pose fresh questions
about what Charles knew when, and shed
new light on the practices of an aide
deemed indispensable to the future king.
Last night, Norman Baker, the former
Liberal Democrat minister who made the
report to the police, said: “This reinfor-
ces the need for the police to give urgent
and detailed attention to the reference I
made two months ago drawing attention
to what I believe is an offence under the
1925 Honours Act.”
Clarence House reissued a statement
saying: “The Prince of Wales has no
knowledge of the alleged offer of honours
or British citizenship on the basis of
donation to his charities and fully sup-
ports the investigation now under way by
the Prince’s Foundation.”
Fawcett declined to comment.Fawcett
solicited
a gift of
£10m
HRH
supports
this 100
per cent
Tears of loss and
pride at Festival of
Remembrance
Prince of Wales, on the eve of
his 73rd birthday, and other
royals, including the Duke
and Duchess of Cambridge.
When the Wrights led
other bereaved family
members across the floor of
the hall, sniffles turned to
sobs and veterans with their
chests full of medals dabbed
at their eyes.
Yet there was also much to
celebrate in the festival’s
return after last year’s
pandemic exile. London’s
most improbable parade
ground — the floor of a
Victorian concert hall — was
“full to capacity, an uplifting
sight”, noted Huw Edwards,
the BBC presenter who acted
as master of ceremonies.
There were drummers
draped with tigerskins,
Chelsea pensioners in their
scarlet uniforms and
synchronised flashing of
bayonets. Soldiers described
their struggles with
devastating battlefield
injuries, post-traumatic stress
disorder and other demons.
There were also several
mentions of the Invictus
Games for wounded
servicemen and women — but
no mention of the event’s
founder, the Duke of Sussex.Tony Allen-MillsFor a moment, the trumpets
and bugles were silent and
across the Royal Albert Hall
came the sounds of an
audience quietly sobbing.
After an hour of stirring
music and pageantry, it was
the appearance of a pair of
proud but grieving parents
that turned the Royal British
Legion’s annual Festival of
Remembrance from magical
military spectacle to a
profound expression of love
and loss.
In a short video tribute,
David and Sallie Wright of
Weymouth, Dorset, talked of
their son James, a Royal
Marine who died aged 22
when a rocket-propelled
grenade was fired at his
checkpoint in Afghanistan’s
Helmand province in 2011.
His mother had asked him
why he liked to be at the front
when his unit was on patrol.
He told her: “Because I’m
good at it.”
His father added simply:
“He was a marine and he
wanted to be the best.”
James’s story was told to a
matinée audience before
being repeated at last night’s
performance before theThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at the eventGEOFF PUGH/POOL/AFP