Government departments are doing “anything to avoid” sharing information about Prince Andrew’s past business dealings.
The claim comes from author Andrew Lownie who’s been working for four years on a new book about the Duke of York.
He has submitted over a hundred requests to Whitehall departments only to find that information “has vanished”.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: “I used to write about the intelligence services, and I found that was a lot easier, a lot more open and transparent than the Royal Family.
“I have tried, through the Freedom Information Act, to get access to any of the paperwork for Andrew, a special representative between 2001 and 2011 when he was taxpayer-funded, a public servant”, but explaining how his requests have been rejected he said “this stuff has vanished”.
‘It’s like playing whack-a-mole’
“The Foreign Office claimed not to know anything about it. The Department of Business and Trade know nothing.
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“It’s like playing whack-a-mole. It’s real Yes Minister stuff, anything to avoid releasing this information.”
Interest in Prince Andrew’s finances has increased in recent months after it was revealed that the King was no longer paying him an allowance, raising questions about how he is able to pay for his home on the Windsor Estate, Royal Lodge, and security.
The prince’s time as trade envoy for the UK may be significant because it was potentially a lucrative time for him, giving him access to business contacts around the world.
Information withheld ‘in accordance with the acts’
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “The department has complied with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act and Public Records Act and maintains that information has been withheld in accordance with the acts.
“This includes an ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) decision notice which outlined that the commissioner did not need to take any further steps.”
When asked, the Foreign Office told Sky News: “The FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) takes its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act very seriously.”
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2:56
Alleged Chinese spy linked to the prince
It comes as a Chinese businessman – described as a “close confidant” of Prince Andrew – was barred from entering the UK over national security risks.
Known as H6, the man was invited to the duke’s birthday party in 2020, and was told by Andrew’s aide Dominic Hampshire that he could help in potential dealings with Chinese investors. A judge ruled the Chinese businessman had an “unusual” degree of trust from the royal.
Andrew met the individual through “official channels” with “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed”, a statement from his office said.
Growing call for accountability
Former chair of the public accounts committee between 2010 and 2015, Baroness Margaret Hodge, has joined calls for less secrecy generally around the royal finances.
She told me: “I find it really difficult to believe that the departments for whom Prince Andrew had contact when he was an envoy have not got the records.
“They will have those records, they obviously just don’t want to share them. And that really says it all.
“I want a Royal Family that is well-funded: they’re a precious and valued institution in our society but going with that funding must come some accountability.”
Image: Prince Andrew, Mike Tindall, Sarah, Duchess of York, Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence attend a thanksgiving service for the life of King Constantine of the Hellenes in February. File pic: PA
The palace believes that as a non-working royal, the duke’s income and tax arrangements are a matter for him and HM Revenue and Customs.
In terms of how he is paying for Royal Lodge, Sky News understands the royal household has been given assurances that his sources of income are all above board, however, it is not in their remit to vet or approve those sources.
It sees it as a job for the Crown Estate which manages properties in the likes of the Windsor Estate.
But Royal Lodge is of interest more generally to the family.
As the former home of the Queen Mother, it’s been suggested that potentially other members of the family may be interested in living there in the future, from the Prince and Princess of Wales to Queen Camilla looking at it for her family.
‘Opaque’ and ‘confusing’
However Robert Hardman, journalist and author of Charles III: New King. New Court, says: “Everything to do with Prince Andrew is opaque, is confusing, people don’t really want to talk about it because his situation is a distraction.”
He added: “I think the real question is not what’s happening today, it’s what’s happening in a few years down the line, what happens if his savings run out, these sources of income such as they are at the moment, what if they run out and suddenly he can’t afford to pay for the maintenance or the protection, what happens to the lease then?
“Does the Crown Estate then say, ‘Well, actually the terms of the lease have been forfeited?’ We just don’t know.
“It is a private financial matter for him but given the prominence of the house and its history and its connections, then the media are clearly going to carry on taking a keen interest in it, as are the Crown Estate and as are ultimately the Treasury.”
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1:43
Prince Andrew and China: What is happening?
Prince Andrew’s television interview five years ago about his links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was meant to shut the scandal down and allow him to get back to public duties without that distraction.
Instead, it had the opposite effect.
This year, he has only been seen once officially in front of the cameras, as he appeared to lead the family as they walked to the chapel at Windsor for a memorial service in February.
This Christmas we may again see Andrew with the rest of the family going to church at Sandringham, always a sign that he hasn’t been entirely left out in the cold by his relatives.
But he still lives with the repercussions of the Jeffrey Epstein saga, his extraordinary downfall meaning questions will continue to remain about him, how he lives and his finances.
Heathrow Airport bosses had been warned of a potential substation failures less than a week before a major power outage closed the airport for a day, a committee of MPs has heard.
The chief executive of Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee Nigel Wicking told MPs of the Transport Committee he raised issues about resilience on 15 March after cable and wiring took out lights on a runway.
A fire at an electricity substation in west London meant the power supply was disrupted to Europe’s largest airport for a day – causing travel chaos for around 200,000 passengers.
“I’d actually warned Heathrow of concerns that we had with regard to the substations and my concern was resilience”, Mr Wicking said.
“So the first occasion was to team Heathrow director on the 15th of the month of March. And then I also spoke to the chief operating officer and chief customer officer two days before regarding this concern.
“And it was following a number of, a couple of incidents of, unfortunately, theft, of wire and cable around some of the power supply that on one of those occasions, took out the lights on the runway for a period of time. That obviously made me concerned.”
Mr Wicking also said he believed Heathrow’s Terminal 5 could have been ready to receive repatriation flights by “late morning” on the day of the closure, and that “there was opportunity also to get flights out”.
However, Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said keeping the airport open during last month’s power outage would have been “disastrous”.
There was a risk of having “literally tens of thousands of people stranded in the airport, where we have nowhere to put them”, Mr Woldbye said.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Another 23 female potential victims have reported that they may have been raped by Zhenhao Zou – the Chinese PhD student detectives believe may be one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.
The Metropolitan Police launched an international appeal after Zou, 28, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women following a trial at the Inner London Crown Court last month.
Detectives have not confirmed whether the 23 people who have come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women worldwide may have been targeted by the University College London student.
Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe.
“At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.”
Image: Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth
Zou lived in a student flat in Woburn Place, near Russell Square in central London, and later in a flat in the Uncle building in Churchyard Row in Elephant and Castle, south London.
He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. Police say they have not had any reports from Belfast but added they were “open-minded about that”.
“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world,” Mr Southworth said.
“We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.
“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”
Image: Pic: Met Police
Zou used hidden or handheld cameras to record his attacks, and kept the footage and often the women’s belongings as souvenirs.
He targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them.
Zou was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim, as well as three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.
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3:16
Moment police arrest rapist student
Mr Southworth said: “Of those 10 victims, several were not identified so as we could be sure exactly where in the world they were, but their cases, nevertheless, were sufficient to see convictions at court.
“There were also, at the time, 50 videos that were identified of further potential female victims of Zhenhao Zou’s awful crimes.
“We are still working to identify all of those women in those videos.
“We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”
Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”
Mr Southworth said more resources will be put into the investigation, and that detectives are looking to understand “what may have happened without wishing to revisit the trauma, but in a way that enables [the potential victims] to give evidence in the best possible way.”
The Metropolitan Police is appealing to anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by Zou to contact the force either by emailing survivors@met.police.uk, or via the major incident public portal on the force’s website.
An 11-year-old girl who went missing after entering the River Thames has been named as Kaliyah Coa.
An “extensive search” has been carried out after the incident in east London at around 1.30pm on Monday.
Police said the child had been playing during a school inset day and entered the water near Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich.
A recovery mission is now said to be under way to find Kaliyah along the Thames, with the Metropolitan Police carrying out an extensive examination of the area.
Image: Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope in North Woolwich leading into the Thames
Chief Superintendent Dan Card thanked members of the public and emergency teams who responded to “carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time”.
He also confirmed drone technology and boats were being used to “conduct a thorough search over a wide area”.
He added: “Our specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”
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“Equally we appreciate this has affected the wider community who have been extremely supportive. You will see extra officers in the area during the coming days.”
On Monday, Kerry Benadjaoud, a 62-year-old resident from the area, said she heard of the incident from her next-door neighbour, who “was outside doing her garden and there was two little kids running, and they said ‘my friend’s in the water'”.
When she arrived at the scene with a life ring, a man told her he had called the police, “but he said at the time he could see her hands going down”.
Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats.
Residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and was slippery.