Duke’s business activities ‘must be scrutinised by Parliament’
THE Duke of York is facing calls for his business dealings and private finances to be scrutinised by Parliament.
Members of the public finance committee, Parliament’s powerful finance watchdog, say revelations that the Prince is entitled to a 2 per cent share for three years of any investment deal struck by his Pitch@Palace business venture, coupled with the row over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, have raised serious questions about his finances.
The calls for scrutiny came as yet another institution dropped the Duke of York as one of its sponsors in the wake of his disastrous Newsnight interview.
The fee-paying Whitgift School in Croydon has written to all parents saying it is looking to replace the Duke. It
joins the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and English National Ballet in cutting its ties with the Duke, along with Barclays Bank, which has withdrawn its sponsorship of Pitch@Palace.
A Sunday Telegraph investigation found that the Duke of York undertook 30 foreign visits on behalf of Pitch@ Palace since founding the business in 2014. Although the business paid the cost of these, the taxpayer funded the security for the Prince during the trips. This is estimated to have been £175,000 for Royal Protection Officers’ pay, with additional costs estimated at £80,000 for their travel.
The revelations are likely to raise questions about how much taxpayers spent on foreign trips for the prince for business purposes, and why so many were necessary. Nigel Mills, a longstanding member of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the scheme should be subject to a par
‘I am concerned as the way this undeniably good scheme has been set up looks like a departure from the norm’
liamentary investigation. He said: “It’s very unusual for a royal initiative to be set up in this way, as a company. I am concerned about the way this undeniably good scheme has been set up because it looks like a departure from the norm. I think it is something the PAC should look at in the next parliament.”
Layla Moran, who has also served on the committee, joined the call for MPs to investigate Pitch@Palace. She said: “We must do due diligence if there’s a suggestion that proper processes have been bypassed because it’s got the royal branding. If there is any suggestion this has been run in a questionable way then the PAC needs to look at it.”
Asked to comment on the prospect of a PAC inquiry into Prince Andrew’s business dealings, particularly any benefit he might gain from Pitch@Palace, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said on behalf of the company: “The [2 per cent] clause was never exercised and has since been deleted.”
Last night, The Sunday Times reported that the Queen has cancelled a party she had planned for the Duke of York’s 60th birthday in February.
Despite the furore surrounding the Duke, 12,000 miles away the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall continued on the final leg of their New Zealand tour yesterday, petting llamas and taking a coastal walk. The royal couple received a traditional Maori greeting before meeting locals and taking in the scenery and wildlife in Kaikoura.