The Sunday Times April 3, 2022 2GN 7NEWS
Carefully escorting the Queen to her
front-row seat at Westminster Abbey in
front of the world’s cameras last week,
the Duke of York must have thought he
had won the jackpot.
Less than a month after paying mil-
lions of pounds to Virginia Giuffre to
settle a US lawsuit over allegations of sex-
ual assault, Prince Andrew appeared
once more to be the frail monarch’s
favoured son at a thanksgiving service for
the life of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Today any glow of satisfaction was
rapidly wearing off as Andrew found him-
self at the centre of yet another scandal.
“The timing has not been good for
him,” said a royal source. “On Tuesday,
Mum gives her seal of approval: ‘I think
you’re innocent, son. You’re with me.’ By
this weekend, his unsavoury friends are
coming out of the cupboard again. For
that reason alone, I’m sure the duke
regrets it.”
The “unsavoury friend” on this occa-
sion is a former Goldman Sachs banker
called Selman Turk, who has been
accused in a High Court civil action of
swindling an elderly Turkish millionair-
ess out of a large swathe of her family for-
tune. Nebahat Isbilen, 77, claims that
Turk, her former financial adviser,
instructed her to transfer £750,000 to
the duke’s Coutts bank account in
November 2019.
Isbilen says Turk, 35, told her the “gift”
was inexplicably tied to “help” provided
by Andrew in acquiring her a new pass-
port as she fled political persecution in
her native Turkey. Her husband, Ilhan, is
a former MP who has been jailed over his
alleged links to a coup attempt in 2015.
Court documents allege that Andrew,
62, later received up to £350,000 from a
company linked to Turk called Alphabet
Capital. Lawyers for Isbilen claim that
money may also have been pilfered from
their client’s accounts.
Although the duke eventually
returned the £750,000 gift, he has so far
failed to explain why he received the cash
in the first place and what it was for. Nor
has he spelt out the nature of his relation-
ship with Turk, a Turkish national who
has lived in London for years. A spokes-
woman for the duke declined to com-
ment, citing legal proceedings.
Yesterday Andrew chose to use
Instagram to muse on his time in the
Royal Navy during the Falklands war, on
the 40th anniversary of the Argentine
invasion of the islands. “99% boredom,
training and routine and that horrendous
1% of sheer terror as missiles and bombs
and shells were thrown around,” he
wrote.
Turk, who is subject to a worldwide
asset-freezing order, denies any wrong-
doing. Isbilen claims the money she gave
Andrew may be related to an award pre-
sented to Turk by the duke nine days ear-
lier at St James’s Palace as part of a
Dragons’ Den-style competition for bud-
ding entrepreneurs called Pitch@Palace.
Turk’s grand idea was to start a “digital
bank” called Heyman, which was later
wound up with debts of at least £22,000.
Other court papers suggest the
£750,000 payment to Andrew was actu-
ally a gift towards the wedding of
Andrew’s elder daughter, Princess Bea-
trice, 33, the following summer.
The prince’s ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess
of York, also appears to have benefited
from Turk’s generosity. She received
£225,000 from Alphabet Capital in
August 2019, according to the High Court
case. Friends say the sum was owed to
the duchess by a Las Vegas solar power
company, Pegasus, for whom she had
worked as a brand ambassador that year.
When the company was unable to pay
her the money in one instalment, Turk
apparently agreed to step in and took on
the debt. Sarah, 62, was introduced to
him by her ex-husband. Her spokesman
said: “The duchess was completely un-
aware of the allegations that have since
emerged against Mr Turk. She is naturally
concerned by what has been alleged
against him.”
Andrew’s younger daughter, Princess
Eugenie, 32, also received two payments
worth just over £25,000 from Turk and
Alphabet Capital in October 2019. Sheyou’re of the belief that you’ve done
nothing wrong and been treated unfairly,
then should you be excluded for ever?”
A Palace source confirmed the un-
animous view of the most senior
courtiers: “The duke is delusional if he
thinks what happened on Tuesday
means he has any chance of resuming a
public role. He doesn’t.”
The royal family are now on the alert to
prevent another Andrew ambush. Prince
Charles, who has made it clear that “a
way back for the duke is demonstrably
not possible”, is on his guard, as he was
after Prince Philip’s death last April.
Then, Andrew was “gunning to be in
front of a camera asap”, according to a
source close to Charles, prompting the
heir to the throne to record an
impromptu tribute to his “dear papa” the
day after his death, ensuring Andrew did
not get there first.
Charles, William and other family
members will accompany the Queen to
her future engagements and the public
jubilee events she hopes to attend.
Andrew is likely to attend some jubilee
celebrations in a private capacity, but he
will not be front row again.
Sources close to Charles said that while
he did not think it was a good idea for
Andrew to accompany the Queen, “if that
is Her Majesty’s wish, the Prince of Wales
is not in the business of having a fight
with his mother”.
It’s time we became the United
Queendom, Dominic Lawson, page 22‘If Prince Andrew thinks he’s back
in the Palace fold, he’s delusional’
£750,
£350,
The duke is engulfed in a scandal involving
another ‘unsavoury friend’ and thinks he is
the new Philip. Aides are at their wits’ end,
write Dipesh Gadher and Roya NikkhahV
£25,066 £225,
claims the money — labelled in part
“Birthday gift” — was deposited in her
bank account after a “long-standing fam-
ily friend” offered to help pay for a sur-
prise 60th birthday party for her mother.
The money was immediately passed on
to the organisers of the event.
“I know neither Mrs Isbilen nor Mr
Turk,” Eugenie said in a statement. The
princess’s lawyers are now assisting Isbi-
len’s legal team with their inquiries.
In total the Yorks have allegedly
received at least £1.35 million at the
behest of Turk.
It is not the first time the family has
been dragged into a scandal involving
Andrew. In 2010, two years after Jeffrey
Epstein was convicted of procuring a
child for prostitution in Florida, the duke
asked the billionaire US financier to help
pay off the duchess’s personal debts. He
gave Sarah £15,000. She later claimed her
judgment had been “clouded” by her des-
perate financial situation.
Other benefactors include David
Rowland, a Tory donor who allegedly
paid off a £1.5 million bank loan for the
duke and some of the duchess’s debts.
Unlike working royals, the Yorks do not
receive public funding from the sover-
eign grant.
If the appearance at Westminster
Abbey was Andrew’s attempt at a dress
rehearsal for the Queen’s Platinum Jubi-
lee celebrations in June, it landed badly.
Royal family members and Palace aides
said it was right for the duke to attend,
but not to grandstand. They insisted hewould not have carte blanche as the
Queen’s plus one: “Everyone expected to
see him, but didn’t expect to see him play
front and centre,” a royal aide said.
“Where there are official events with fam-
ily attending in an official capacity, differ-
ent rules will apply.”
There is exasperation across the royal
households. His behaviour “cast a
shadow over the service which nobody
wanted, and hopefully a certain someone
[Andrew] has noticed that”, a senior
royal source said. Before the service
Andrew was urged not to accompany the
Queen. Advisers predicted it would bring
“turbulence” to a poignant occasion.
“Nobody thought how that would play
out optically was going to be a good idea,”
the source said. “The point had been
made, but if there’s one person in the
family who never listens to advice ...
“He might have hoped it would
become mission creep to being more visi-
ble, but that’s not the will of everybody
else. He can’t just turn up to things and
play an unexpected role. The family track
record shows there’s tolerance but
there’s not a blind eye. Most of the family
are not as deaf to the issue created as the
Duke of York might be.”
A guest at Balmoral, the Queen’s Scot-
tish retreat, last summer said Andrew
had “completely assumed the role of the
Duke of Edinburgh” and was glued to her
side behind closed doors.
A friend of the duke said that, regard-
less of his settlement with Giuffre, which
excluded any admission of liability, “IfV
Selman Turk, above, asked one of his clients to pay £750,000 to the Duke of
York, below, as a “wedding gift” for Princess Beatrice, court papers say. That
money has been returned, but the duke is alleged to have received up to
£350,000 more from Alphabet Capital, a company linked to TurkSarah, Duchess of York, also received £225,000 from Alphabet Capital, while
Princess Eugenie, below left, with her mother and sister Beatrice, was given £25,
from the same company to help pay for a surprise 60th birthday for the duchessAfter his appearance by the
Queen’s side at the memorial
service for the Duke of Edinburgh
last week, many in royal circles
hoped the Duke of York would
disappear discreetly for a while,
writes Roya Nikkhah.
However, in what many will view
as another brazen move to bolster
his public image, Prince Andrew, a
Falklands war veteran, marked the
40th anniversary of the conflict
yesterday by asking his former
wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, to
post his personal “reflections” of
combat on her Instagram account.
The musings were signed
“Written by HRH The Duke of York”,
despite the Queen banning her
second son from using his HRH
styling during his legal battle with
Virginia Giuffre, a victim of sex-
trafficking, to whom he recently
paid a multimillion-pound
settlement. After inquiries by The
Sunday Times, the “HRH” was
removed from the post.
Andrew, 62, who served with the
Royal Navy in the Falklands as a
helicopter pilot, recalled: “My
lasting memory is of 99% boredom... and that 1% of sheer terror as
missiles and bombs and shells
were thrown around... the terror
that that was going to be that, just
for a moment, has had a lasting and
permanent effect on me.”
He said he “returned a changed
man”, and “put away childish
things and false bravado... a man
full in the knowledge of human
frailty and suffering”.
Last night senior royal sources
described the post as “tone deaf”
and “extraordinary”.
It is understood that Andrew’s
reflections on the Falklands were
not seen by the Queen or
Buckingham Palace in advance. A
palace source said: “The duke is
delusional if he thinks he has any
chance of resuming a public role.”
Less than three hours later, three
Instagram posts, which also
included his musings on Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine, were deleted.
‘TONE DEAF’ POST
FOR FALKLANDSGangs attack cyclists in broad daylight to steal their £2,000 Bromptons
The owners of Brompton
folding bicycles, which range
in price from £850 for the
basic model to nearly £3,
for the electric version, have
become the latest target of
violent street crime. Armed
gangs are attacking them on
busy streets in daylight to
steal their bikes.
Victims have spoken of
their shock on being targeted,
because one of the reasons
for buying a Brompton is thatit should never be stolen.
Once folded, it can be carried
indoors.
Jonathon Wallis, 36, a City
worker who was attacked on
Tuesday, said: “I thought I
didn’t even need a bike lock
because I take it everywhere
with me.”
About 232,000 bikes were
stolen last year, according to
Bike Register, though the
police figure is about 90,000.
Bike Register lists 1,264 stolen
Bromptons, of which 203
were stolen in the past year.
It has become common forthieves to steal locked bikes
in public places, but a more
aggressive breed of criminal
is now attacking cyclists
riding sought-after brands.
Wallis was on a popular
cycle route through Hackney,
east London, at 6.15pm when
he spotted two men in full
facemasks on electric
mopeds. They accelerated
after him and his path was
blocked by an accomplice.
“They forced me to the
ground. I took a few punches,
and they were in my face
screaming, and I thought,‘I’ve got insurance on this
bike and I’ve got a baby at
home, and they might have
knives.’ So I made a decision
to give up.”
Four days later he is still
waiting for a detective to take
a formal statement. “If it was
a Rolex I think they would
take it more seriously,” he
said, “but because it’s
bicycles, they don’t.” His bike
cost £2,000.
Travis Crowther, 39, a
graphic designer living in
Hackney who bought a
Brompton after thieves stolefive of his bikes in ten years,
decided not to give in when a
gang attacked him at 6pm on
Saturday March 26.
He was on his way to help
an elderly friend with his
shopping when he was
surrounded by four or five
men on electric mopeds
masked so only their eyes
were showing.
The leader kicked him in
the legs and hit him in the
face until he fell, whereupon
the others joined in, kicking
and punching him in the face.
Angered by his failure to letgo of the bike, worth about
£2,700, the leader dragged
him across the road and
placed his head on the kerb.
“The main attacker
repeatedly stomped on my
face in an attempt to break
my teeth and possibly my
nose. I have a clear image of
the underside of his black
trainer as he repeatedly
stamped on my face.
“After two minutes they
seemed physically tired and
annoyed that I hadn’t just
handed them the bike.
Sounding pissed off, the mainattacker shouted, ‘Just give us
the f***ing bike!’” Crowther
then let go.
A third victim is Mike van
Earp, the man who filmed the
film director Guy Ritchie
driving while using a mobile
phone. His Brompton, worth
£1,835, was stolen on March
17 in Hyde Park at 5.20pm.
Van Earp, a carer, had just
finished a cycling lesson for a
boy with Down’s syndrome.
A colleague who was
looking after the bike was
shoved to the ground by a
hooded and masked cyclistwho threatened him with a
knife. The bike had three
location trackers but the thief
ripped them all off.
Will Butler-Adams, chief
executive of Brompton, said
the solution was simple:
online marketplaces should
insist on a frame number
or registration number
before agreeing to sell a bike.
“You have got to kill the
second-hand market by
people knowing it has been
obtained by ill means,”
he said.
@NicholasHellenNicholas Hellen and
Alastair Johnstone