May the Fawcett be with you! Aide’s boost for Charles’ charity

PRINCE Charles’s bold decision to put Michael Fawcett i n charge of his charity empire sealed an astonishing rise to power for his former valet. And the move i s already paying dividends.

I can reveal that the heir to the throne’s educational charity, the Prince’s Foundation, enjoyed an increase of £4 million in its net assets this year.

According to newly filed figures, it boasted assets of £119.5 million in the 12 months to March. Incoming resources also soared, from £16.5 million in 2019 to £22.3 million this year.

Fawcett, who started as a junior footman, was made the £95,000-ayear chief executive of the foundation in a major re-organisation of Charles’s philanthropic work in March 2018.

It put him in charge of a multimillion-pound budget and gave him responsibility for all the future king’s public work on issues including architecture, heritage, culture and education.

Fawcett began his royal service in 1981 as a footman to the Queen, becoming sergeant footman and then Charles’ assistant valet, setting out his bespoke suits and shirts every morning at Kensington Palace.

He even had to squeeze toothpaste on his master’s toothbrush after the Prince broke his arm playing polo, and became so indispensable that Charles once said: ‘ I can manage without just about anyone, except for Michael.’

For the previous five years, he had also worked as chief executive of Dumfries House, the Palladian stately home near Cumnock, Ayrshire, rescued by the prince on behalf of the nation and which has become t he base f or his charitable endeavours.

Aides said Fawcett had helped to raise tens of millions of pounds and created 200 jobs at the house, its estate and the wider area.

The trustee’s report states: ‘ The charity ended the year with a surplus, and we face the uncertainty resulting from Covid- 19 from a position of strength.

‘We have been able to continue to pay our staff throughout this crisis without taking advantage of the Government’s furlough scheme, our suppliers have continued to be paid, and we are moving forward with our reopening plans in line with government guidelines.’