King’s bid to swap charity name hits a snag
KING CHARLES wants to change the name of his charity from The Prince’s Foundation to The King’s Foundation – but the plan has hit a stumbling block because another charity already has the name.
In a David and Goliath battle, the King’s charity has asked the other organisation to hand over its name. The change is part of a major revamp for the beleaguered Prince’s Foundation, which hopes to include celebrity endorsement.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that David and Victoria Beckham have accepted an invitation to go to see some of the work carried out by Charles’s charity.
It is hoped that the pair might even agree to come on board as ambassadors. Actress Sienna Miller is deciding whether to become associated with the charity and, as previously reported by The Mail on Sunday, she had a secret dinner with the King to discuss the matter. The Prince’s Foundation is still subject to an investigation by the Scottish charity regulator over historic donations from foreign tycoons.
But there is said to be renewed optimism among fundraisers after the Metropolitan Police dropped its own investigation into the ‘cash for honours’ allegations. A source said: ‘They want to turn the charity around. It has been made more difficult by the fact that there is already a charity called The King’s Foundation so the Royal charity has been forced to go to the other one and ask if they can have the name for themselves. It is all a bit awkward. The charity is emboldened by the fact that it is out of the woods but the name change debacle is a little embarrassing, to say the least.’
The ‘King’s Foundation’ name belongs to a well-established Sheffield-based charity, so called because when it formed in 1991 it operated out of the city’s King’s Centre Church. More recently, it received a grant from Mail Force, a charity associated with the MoS, to provide subsidised places on activity weeks for 900 Ukrainian children who had arrived in Britain along with food vouchers. Better known as the Kings Active Foundation, it is registered on official documents as ‘The King’s Foundation’, a title for which it has held the copyright since 2019. It is understood that no financial compensation was offered to take over the name but sources close to the deal say the original King’s Foundation is ‘happy to help’. A source said: ‘Assuming it goes in this direction [from Prince’s to King’s Foundation] it would be a significant vote of confidence in the future of the charity. It looks like it’s going to be renamed, which would suggest that the chapter of the past is now closed.’
Buckingham Palace and The Prince’s Foundation declined to comment. The Kings Active Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.
‘It would be a vote of confidence in the future’