Osama bin Laden wasn’t just a huge piece of terrorist sh-t, he was also a scion of one of the wealthiest and most well-connected families in Saudi Arabia. The Bin Laden family is still pretty powerful within the Kingdom, and obviously they’re still very rich. They like to travel too, and I would guess that members of the Bin Laden family own commercial and private real estate throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and America, ownership which is mostly hidden through a web of shadowy shell companies. The point is that they have a lot of money and they can still exert a lot of influence when they want. Enter Prince Charles, who thinks it’s perfectly fine to accept literal suitcases full of cash. Apparently, Charles accepted a £1 million donation from the Bin Laden family.
The Prince of Wales accepted a £1 million payment from the family of Osama bin Laden, The Sunday Times can reveal. Prince Charles personally secured the money from Bakr bin Laden, the patriarch of the wealthy Saudi family, and his brother Shafiq. Both men are half-brothers of Osama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda who masterminded the September 11 attacks.
Charles, 73, brokered the payment after a private meeting with Bakr, 76, at Clarence House in London on October 30, 2013, two years after Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan. The future king agreed to the donation despite the objections of advisers at the Clarence House and the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund (PWCF), where the money was ultimately deposited. According to sources, several of Charles’s advisers, including at least one trustee, pleaded with him in person to return the money.
One of his household staff said it would cause national outrage if the news leaked to the media. They told the prince that “it would not be good for anybody” if it emerged that he had accepted money from the family of the perpetrator of the worst terrorist attack in history. A second adviser also urged the prince to return the money. They told the prince he would suffer serious reputational damage if his name appeared in the same sentence as the terrorist, who was responsible for the murder of 67 Britons alongside thousands of Americans on 9/11.
One source said: “The fact that a member of the highest level of the British establishment was choosing to broker deals with a name and a family that not only rang alarm bells, but abject horror around the world . . . why would you do this? What good reason is there to do this?” They added: “I just didn’t feel any member of the British royal family should be involved in that sort of undertaking.”
However, Charles was said to have felt it would be too embarrassing to hand the money back to the brothers and feared that they would suspect the reason. It is understood that one household staff member believes they were “very vociferous” with the prince but were “shouted down”.
Think about how odd this is, that Prince Charles already has one ass cheek on the throne and his close, high-ranking staffers think nothing of spilling their guts to the Times about how it’s not THEIR fault that Charles was taking £1 million from Osama bin Laden’s half-brothers. Over the past year, there’s been a whole cascade of grifter dominoes about Charles’s decades of financial impropriety and I cannot for the life of me understand any part of it. One, why was Charles behaving this way for years and Buckingham Palace didn’t shut him down? Why didn’t the government?? Two, why didn’t Charles’s staffers raise their concerns PUBLICLY before now? Three, what is broken in Charles’s brain that he thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to receive tens of millions of dollars from some of the shadiest people in the world as long as the money is nominally used for “charity”?
As for this specific story… holy sh-t. Yes, granted, the Saudi government still treats the Bin Ladens as largely siloed from Al Qaeda operations and Osama bin Laden’s terrorism. I can see how someone could make the intellectual distinction between the family and Osama bin Laden. But it still looks completely awful. Here’s another question: why did Charles even meet with the Bin Ladens in the first place? If his argument is that it would have been rude to return the money, why was he even meeting them or courting them in a fundraising capacity?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, during a visit to the Healing Hub Oxygen Therapy Centre in Wick to hear about the benefits of oxygen therapy, especially for long COVID sufferers.,Image: 710805046, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Milligan / Avalon
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- The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, during a visit to the Healing Hub Oxygen Therapy Centre in Wick to hear about the benefits of oxygen therapy, especially for long COVID sufferers.,Image: 710805055, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Milligan / Avalon
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- The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, views a model of a memorial by the Seafarers Memorial Group in Wick after meeting volunteers and supporters of Caithness food bank at Carnegie Library in Wick, to hear more about the vital support they provide to those in need in Caithness and Sutherland through the provision of food and other essentials.,Image: 710805069, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Milligan / Avalon
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- The model of a memorial by the Seafarers Memorial Group in Wick after The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland viewed it after meeting volunteers and supporters of Caithness food bank at Carnegie Library in Wick, to hear more about the vital support they provide to those in need in Caithness and Sutherland through the provision of food and other essentials.,Image: 710805075, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Milligan / Avalon
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- The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland meets locals during a visit to the Healing Hub Oxygen Therapy Centre in Wick to hear about the benefits of oxygen therapy, especially for long COVID sufferers.,Image: 710805091, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Andrew Milligan / Avalon
The cash thing is awful.
However, the outfit Charles has dressed up in is a crime in its own right. I’m presuming he’s visiting Scotland? Notice how the Scottish people all just wear normal clothes and don’t feel the need to strut about in massively expensive and unnecessary national dress of an afternoon. It just makes him look both completely patronising and a massive numpty, rather than Scotland’s next head of state.
@aidevee – thank you for starting my day with the excellent phrase “massive numpty.”
Oh, I dunno. I spent a year in England in grad school & from time to time I’d see men walking around in kilts, going about their day. I’d see this in Cambridge & London both. Some Scotsmen will wear their kilts & all the rest of the appropriate gear. As for Charles doing it, it could be seen as pandering I suppose, or honoring local culture, or just the BRFs concept of Scottish Disneyland, as somebody put it. We’re in Scotland now, so wear plaid. In Ireland we’ll wear green. In Wales, we’ll wear red.
When will we admit that the royal family LOVE to cosplay??!?! Andrew with his uniforms and medals he DEMANDS to be SEEN IN. (Remember when everyone had to wear suits cause teddy bear demanded a freaking ADMIRALS uniform) Then there is Charles in either “Gentlemen Monied Gentry Shooting Gear” or his Brig a freaking doon as soon as he steps foot anywhere near Scotland. Of course people wear kilts, but does he EVER wear them outside of Scotland because they are part of his culture or does he just cosplay? We know the answer
And then there is buttons McCosplay who had never seen a theme she could not dress for. She was THAT sorority sister who LOVED LOVED LOVED pimp and ho parties because she could put on bunny ears and garters and show off her abs. And yes there are pictures of her with bunny ears.
Er, you were in England and you saw men in kilts going about their day? That’s so weird and it just doesn’t happen. Unless they were Scottish and going to a university ball or a wedding. Or if its some poor girl forced to wear one as her school uniform like I was.
He always dresses awful. His suits never look tailored at all.
Anyone else wonder about his health? His fingers just look very red and swollen to me.
Being soaked in gin will do that to a person.
Prince Charles is future King of Scotland and so it is not surprising that he should wear traditional Scottish attire when in Scotland, clothing which Scottish people are rightly proud of.
You probably didn’t notice more men in London wearing skirts during this hot weather and l saw one wearing a light weight one in the style of a kilt.
he must think he is Bonny Prince Charles… im squirming here at the idea that he thought it is ok to grab that money. and im sure this wasnt first instance either. how much of it went to Cambridges? the shady stuff with royals is never ending.
I’m so jaded these days that few things in the news make my jaw drop. This did. I thought better of Charles. I was wrong.
What made my jaw drop was the fact that he did this WHILE HARRY WAS STILL SERVING IN AFGHANISTAN.
Obscene. What a pathetic excuse for a parent.
Lorelei-
I wonder if there’s any connection between this and Harry’s location in Afghanistan being leaked. Wasn’t his safety compromised and he was forced to leave? When was that?
Osama was a rich kid with dozens of half siblings and also too much time on his hands. His many relatives were not involved with Al Qaeda and some of them publicly condemned him. Keep in mind yes ksa has a bad rep for womens rights but the elite don’t necessarily follow it and ksa has good relationships with Israel which is against the values of Al qaeda. I guess its possible that these guys secretly were still in contact with their brother, so we know if they were close with him? it also seems like a bunch of rich people of various nationalities and no connections to organized crime do like to give Charles money. Not sure what they hope to get in return.
@Lorelei: The Royal Family never wanted Harry to go to Afghanistan. He was supposed to go to Iraq but the top brass prevented him from going. I’ve always suspected that the Royal Family leaked Harry’s location to press because they wanted him home.
Wow. I didn’t consider that. Harry still has a bounty on his head from the Taliban. So, not only is Charles yanking Harry’s security, he also compromised his security when he was the most vulnerable. I wonder if Harry knew about this or is this news to him as well.
@Rapunzel — New Idea, an Australian lifestyle magazine, leaked it and insisted it wasn’t aware of an embargo agreement between the British Defense Ministry and major news organizations not to reveal the information.
The story was later picked up by a German publication, then by the Drudge Report and Harry had to be rushed out of the country.
Your being very nice about what your calling New Idea there Jaded, it’s at best a gossip rag 😂
I didn’t realise they were the source of the leak, but it’s totally in keeping with their hackery.
What a gross family. Blecch!
@Ann exactly my feelings too! Utterly disgusting!
Diana was right. Charles is so unfit to be king. Absolutely no judgement. Clown decisions like this while his son was is afghanistan. That’s how you know what his priorities are.
^^ Well, but so is Willileaks, the Prince of Embarrassing Twitter hashtags, not qualified for the throne, in contradiction to what Diana unwittingly and rashly suggested in 1995, not realizing W would never amount to much! 👀 🤨
As well, neither was Queen Liz qualified for the throne when she inherited it and all it stood for after her father passed, in 1952. For most of her reign, the old men in the government and the courtier men-in-grey have been the real power behind the throne. Now that Charles, in his 70s, is essentially Prince Regent in everything but name, the monarchy’s rep is teeter-tottering.
This is due to a number of reasons, including the ineptness of Charles and the LOL ‘braintrust’ he’s surrounded by, and because of the fractious nature of the palace fiefdoms. It doesn’t help that Charles is doddering about trying to be in charge, but still king-in-waiting, caught holding the ‘bag’ instead of the fort, while his mother slowly molders away. SMH! 😳
Wow, a new low. Just wow.
Oh, yes, this is proper dodgy. If we are finding out now about a million quid donation from the Bin Laden Boyz, what DON’T we know about? This is well suss, and honestly, nothing would surprise me about these parasites.
It’s notable that certain papers are not covering this story.
Can you imagine if MM had taken money from the Bin Laden family? They would be trying to burn her at the stake.
@aussieaussieaussie
New Idea are so full of it. I can see them thinking that they could get away with it. They are known as No Idea here in NZ.
It’s kind of interesting how these Charles the grifter stories keep leaking. Wonder who has a target on Charles back? Maybe this is Andrew getting back for being sidelined or Willie to get his amorous activities off social media.
Andrew is a safe bet, but also William has to give something since he has no Sussex news. Still, is William this smart or aware of his surroundings?
I immediately thought Willieboy. The timing is so convenient.
These stories keep leaking in a timely manner after a negative William story. Wills and Kate have been trending HARD on Twitter for the last week. Both Wills , Kate and a kid are back to work today. There are more of these stories. Curious that perhaps the tabloids were expecting to feast off of the Archetypes podcast by now.Meghan’s bday is coming
The story didn’t stop Will from trending yesterday. His communications people should have explained to him that two hashtags can trend on the same day.
Although i believe that different households are feuding, i doubt it was william for once. This is damning, really damning. The writer of this piece has broken multiple ‘cash for honours’ stories. i simply think there is a British journo (at last) that wants to investigate the royal family’s dealings with shady regimes. The fact that sources are willing to talk to him sounds to me as if Charlie pissed some people off and they has scores to settle.
My guees is Andrew. He has nothing to lose at this point, unlike Charles, and information is his only asset left. It’s Andrew’s message, loud and clear just like the one about the suitcases of cash: let me parade around in my shiny medals or I’m telling on you, too!
Edit: On second thought, he did need a jurno and an outlet who were actually willing to print this. So probably Andrew was used, again, to pull the institution further down the drain.
What does Charles have to lose?
If your guess is right, then the gauntlet has been thrown down. Andrew is as shady as Charles, even moreso, by accepting bribes. In his Airmiles Andy days he was famous for grifting just about everything he could get his hands on. Between his *business* friendships with Libyan, Saudi and Russian war criminals and billionaires, and his close personal ties to Epstein and Maxwell, AND the certainty he was involved in an illegal arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia (google Al-Yamamah arms deal), well…the writing’s kinda on the wall. Things could get very ugly very quickly. The tabloids are sitting on a veritable TON of dangerous information.
This is the monarchy’s death by a thousad cuts, I’m loving it. No, for once this is not William. Because, dumb as a rck he is, but he has to know that bringing his father down in this way would be to William’s own detriment. There’s just way too much at stake.
It could be like a lot of things: the BM knew all along and sat on it until they wanted to let it be known.
Yeah, there’s definitely something going on behind the scenes with Charles, starting with the forced departure of Fawcett. These stories are too detailed not to come from an insider. But why? And more specifically, why now?
I think Andrew out for revenge is certainly possible, but would he know all of these ins and outs of Charles staff and how they felt? It’s starting to feel more like someone who used to be close to Charles and his staff looking for revenge. Maybe Fawcett, after essentially falling on his sword for Charles, was expecting to be rehired once things died down ( as he has been in the past) and has finally been told no?
@jay: i also think it’s probably an old employee that is angry at charles. Kaiser asked a good question: why now? They’ve known for years.
I don’t think it’s andrew. He might have beef with charles but he is already the most despised royal in britain and has plenty of shady dealings himself. If it were him it be too easy for charles to get him back. I also think that nobody in the institution really takes orders from andrew.
And i don’t think it’s william. He is too dumb and self absorbed to uncover all of this.
I don’t think Charles exiled Fawcett. IMO he gave him a generous pension so he’d be set for life and they are still friends.
I agree with your assessment of William. He just doesn’t have the brains for this.
Definitely. Chains are definitely being yanked somewhere…. Wonder why? And by whom?
How could Charles be so stupid?! ARGGHHHH…..
Gotta wonder if it’s any of the queen’s staff angling for a position (or keep their current one) when Charles becomes king. Orrr Charles’s people leaking stuff now to get it out before he is on the throne.
This is the game of thornes people william wants the crown, and he and the Middlebots, and dear uncle want it now. I peg willy, k8 and company, on this hit. They have the most to gain. Once harry left, the target on Charlie’s back got bigger. Disgruntled employees could have struck anytime. I wholeheartedly peg willy, with Jason, Wooton, and a host of other clowns willy owes favors to. Think on it for a moment.
If it is someone from one of the royal houses, how would they have know about this in the first place? Or does someone on the staff of one house pore over diary records from another house in the hopes of spotting an interesting appointment or salacious detail?
I wouldn’t be surprised if the leaks are simply from a disgruntled former employee. Although I can’t wait to see how this is covered in the crown! Lol
This is way too detailed for an outsider; and other households are technically “outsiders”. There is no way Wotton, Jason Knife or the Middies would know all these details up to the personal conversations that went down even to “he was shouted down”, no way. Its NOT William. And KP is not spotless either so, they dare not pull stunts like this.
If this is internecine warfare in the House of Windsor, then it’s just going to accelerate its collapse.
Which wouldn’t be a bad thing. As long as they don’t get to run off with their immense wealth while the people continue to do without.
Yes, my thoughts too, internecine warfare.
This happened a while back, the real question is why is this being brought up now. Someone is trying to destroy Charles, and why?
Meanwhile Prince William is still being given full protection by the media but it won’t last.
I am gettIng worn down by the shenanigans of this family. Heaven help us! The Queen is still alive and all this is happening, when she goes the gloves really will be off and it is going to be truly awful.
@PrincessK, it is curious why it’s being brought up now and framed/shaped the way it is. There are a number of stories out there that Bakr bin Laden(and a lot of other family members) wasn’t a fan of his maniacal half brother. The New Yorker has a pretty good article on the bin Ladens.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-fall-of-the-bin-ladens
I’m taken aback that Mohammed bin Laden fathered 54 children! (from the article)
The financial shenanigans/general shenanigans of the BRF and I’m adding the British Media in too, is overwhelming. The royal foundations/charities of the BRF need to be more transparent. Guessing that’s a pretty slippery slope.
I don’t think this is coming from William only because he probably is involved in sketchy fundraising as well and likely doesn’t want anything out there that might prompt a more in depth look at his own financials.
I agree with Becks on this one, as well as with Chloe who mentioned in another comment that William is just too stupid and self-absorbed to be capable of this.
ETA: @Moominsummer, while this is not as salacious as some of the other explanations, lol, it actually does make a lot of sense.
In Britain it’s widely suspected that these leaks about Charles are coming from Boris Johnson’s government. They started up after Charles publicly rebuked the government for sending refugees to Rwanda, and it’s thought that these leaks about bags full of cash are the government telling him to keep his mouth quiet like a good little Royal figurehead or they will start leaking the really bad stuff.
I read this in the guardian last night.
His staffers voice concerns and they were “shouted down.” They had concerns before he took the money and after. Pleading for him to return it, but he had a list of reasons why that would be improper. Sort of misrepresented the “donation” to the board members of the trust receiving the donation. And now renewed calls to audit the trust are swinging around.
Charles took funds from anyone and they hid it for so long so why is it all coming out now?
At first I thought this was someone out to get Charles but now I’m wondering if it’s managed leaks in preparation for his reign.
I mean these stories are from a palace friendly paper the Times but are always broken on a Saturday night & the Times or other papers never really press it eg it’s not covered on the breakfast shows, radio shows, no polls about it so the press aren’t trying to get the public agitated about it. So it’s not like these stories are causing real damage to Charles. So i wonder if it’s a way to get certain dirt out before Charles is king & moves into his deified role so can’t risk embarrassing stories?
Also Charles refused to listen to the gold plated advisors to return to money as it would be embarrassing (lol) & shouted them down? When’s the bullying enquiry?
I never considered a controlled leak scenario. This is so bad why would you allow this info released.
As this info comes out over and over again it only shows how awful Charles is. How normal it seems for the BRF to operate this way.
The BRF can be seen as time wasters. Tax wasters. Lazy. But even that covers up all these sleazy and corrupt dealings. It’s insane.
It could be a negative news dump before the reign and QEII death.However,I’m understanding why Andrew was pissed that he was cut loose when Charles was also getting questionable $$$
Abritguest: I think this is the only logical explanation. Charles knows that he has the press on his side.
I’m not buying the controlled leak theory. Each cash for access story is worse than the previous one. It also risks opening a Pandora’s Box on all the other royal family’s shady dealings. Because I guarantee Charles ain’t the only one.
I think it’s full on Game of Thrones over there and it’s going to get worse. They are briefing against each other in a bid to be the next to ascend the throne when Queenie kicks it.
@wiglet watcher- MTE, and I also wonder how on earth Harry came out of this mess with any sort of moral compass because it’s clear none of them have one.
You may be correct. Controlled leaks.
@ Snuffles, I agree that this is not a controlled leak and it is someone in CH that is providing these specific details, none of which Willy or Andrew would have known.
This is clearly coming from a CH leaker and as each story comes out. Yes!!! Each story is MUCH worse than the last one. There is nothing in this leak that paints Charles in a positive light. Having been “shouted down” to his advisers as well as his refusal to return the money. It’s clear that someone in CH is feeding these intricate details to the press with first hand knowledge. Someone is gunning for Charles and it’s not at the behest of Charles or the other RF members.
I am as puzzled as everyone else is. Why now?
Another example of how dirty everyone in the BRF are. They are certainly willing to make deals with the devil as long as no one is the wiser.
Anointed by God my ass……..
@Erin, right? Harry is a unicorn. It’s incredible (and admirable) that he actually turned out to be a decent human being, after being surrounded by this constant, backstabbing bullshit for the first 35+ years of his life.
I apologize in advance for this comment because I *hate* making things that have nothing to do with Meghan about Meghan.
HOWEVER. We’ve been hearing nonstop about what a “bully” she is toward the staff for years, and here it is, right there on the record in a serious story (not just some DM fiction) that Charles “shouted down” anyone who disagreed with this plan, and no one blinks an eye.
It annoys me every single time they do it. They’re either too stupid to realize how hypocritical it is, or they don’t care.
Because CHARLES is the one who comes off as a bully here (as well as a lot of other derogatory things that I won’t list because they’d probably get me banned).
ETA @Quinn, I just saw your comment about it possibly being leaked by Charles himself in an attempt to get all of these stories out there before he’s on the throne, and it’s interesting…but this is SO BAD that I can’t imagine Charles would want this out there *ever* and he’s delusional if he believes releasing a story about this behavior will “look better” no matter when it becomes published.
This family is more of a hot mess by the day, JFC
Don’t apologize, Lorelei. After the bullying smear against Meghan, it’s impossible to read “shouted down” without thinking about the fact that there has never even been a report that she shouted. Just that others cried in her presence or when she called. So yeah reports that Charles shouted down should incite a bullying investigation along with a financial investigation, right? Not holding my breath for that one.
There are reports of Charles icing people out and scolding them. Charles for instance mentioned Philip’s letter and advice re: Diana and the staff member disagreed that Philip was forcing him. Charles froze this person out for good. And CHarles blamed a courtier for his confessing adultery on TV–not himself. That is how Charles operates IMO.
I was thinking something along those lines as well. They had the unmitigated gall to complain about Meghan’s ‘death earrings’ or whatever but Charles can accept bags of cash from the Bin Laden family????
Tessa
That seems to be how Heirs operate. Everyone must fall on their sword for them as they do as they please. Never living with the consequences of their actions.
Seems Charles has quite the temper too.
There have been loads of stories about royals bullying staff, especially in private circles, Philip, Anne and Andrew are the ones l have heard about.
“Shouted down” doesn’t necessarily mean actual shouting. It can mean cutting off all debate because you’re the big dog in the room. We could call it bullying or we could call it royal privilege, but Charles is the big dog in the room. A stupid big dog, but there’s nothing to be done about it, except maybe quitting one’s job and finding a smarter heir to the throne – and good luck with that search.
@Lorelei, no need to apologize. Apparently it’s okay Charles to shout down people, Andy to get angry at staff for misaligned teddy bears/whatnot, William to be incandescent for everything under the sun especially Meghan breathing, Kate voicing complaints about hemlines/tights about someone else’s wedding, and more. Sounds like the heir and the future heirs get away with a lot as long as they are not named Meghan or Harry.
Replying to different things I read above. It was in 2008 Harry’s Afghanistan location was revealed. The MoD said he was expected home from Afghanistan January 21, 2013. Charles is a shit dad that was involved in the pulling of H&M’s security, threw him under the bus to cover up other things, put out terrible stories about Diana, spent $$$$$$$$ on the embiggening of Camilla and countless other things. imo, Charles isn’t guilty of putting Harry in danger while he was serving, they needed him back home to serve as scapegoat and to hide the laziness of the Cambridges. Thank god Harry had and still has the backing of his armed forces comrades. The Taliban doesn’t forgive (nor does the Firm/BRF/BM and other crazies). Harry’s family is still in danger.
“And now renewed calls to audit the trust are swinging around.” WTF? Why isn’t it being audited with public results? I truly don’t understand why there isn’t more oversight of this nonpolitical *ahem* head of government family.
@Kirk, it’s wild what these people are allowed to get away with. Also, let’s take bets on if/when this “audit” actually happens. I’m going to go with a quarter to never.
Not sure why it’s all coming out now. If I had to posit a theory, it could be the Queen’s courtiers who fear their heads are on the chopping block after the Queen dies. Maybe Will has gone behind Charles back and promised them that they would continue to have a career under his reign.
If William is evil enough to throw his brother under the bus, he’d have zero qualms about screwing over his father. Will is in a one sided competition with Harry that he is pathetically losing. Becoming King sooner rather than later would make him feel like he’s “won”.
As to what was Charles thinking? He’s thinking he’s following the family business plan. They’re all up to their big ears in shady dealings.
@Snuffles – the heads of the Queen’s courtiers ARE on the chopping block when she dies so this is not a bad guess for the source. I was reading something the other day that talked about exactly that fact. The grey men have a lot of power but only while their principle is alive because that is where they derive their authority from. The Queen’s courtiers have had a long run at the top of the tree but, once she goes, they’re gone too. Charles has his own entourage and they will be turfing out the old guard. It’s not like the civil service where the prime minister inherits experienced staff who stay constant as governments change.
Seeing where QE II’s health is right now, they know their remaining time is limited so they have nothing to lose and the opportunity to make a bit of money on the side. This would explain both the fact that they know this info about Charles AND why that info is being leaked now.
Charles did Install Edward Young so he’s likely safe.
Oh the Queen’s men in grey/courtiers/aides leaking this makes sense, good theory! They won’t be around much longer, not to be morbid because I don’t like guessing how long someone will live. But they’ll be gone in less than 5 years most likely and they know Charles will not keep them around. Since they have nothing to lose, they don’t give a donut and will aim to cause as much damage to Charles’s reputation as they can. They know they are losing their position of power and I doubt they care about William much.
But I COULD see William conspiring with his grandmother’s aides to leak negative stories about Charles as a way to get back at him. He knows her aides have nothing to lose and they know Charles will kick them to the curb as soon as the Queen dies. But again maybe I’m giving William’s intelligence too much credit.
@ AmelieOriginal, I cannot fathom that Willy would have any competent brain cells to pull this off. Willy can’t talk himself out of a bag yet alone create and execute something that is this damaging with the details as well.
Willy isn’t capable of thinking beyond his nose.
Yeah, this is a really bad headline. Even if there is a distinction between these people and Osama bin Laden himself, its just a really bad headline. WTF was Charles thinking. he was “too embarrassed” to return the money but not embarrassed to accept the money in the first place?
And who is leaking these stories? did they leak everything all at once and the times etc are just releasing them piecemeal, or is there someone who keeps running to the times once a month with more info? And if so, who?
It’s Shades of Andrew isn’t it? “I flew to NY to tell the rapist sex-trafficking pedophile I couldn’t be his friend anymore.”
That’s the first thing I thought of, too, @Eurydice, when Andrew talked about how embarrassing it would be to just stop being friends with a convicted sex offender/ trafficker. It shows pretty blatantly whose feelings they consider worth protecting, and coincidentally, it’s always the party with more power and money. Those people have to be protected at all costs.
You know, I’m starting to think that maybe just maybe this royal emphasis on protocol and politeness is not all it’s cracked up to be…
@Jay: the British are not polite. It’s the accent that fools us into thinking so.
Willileak, that’s his name, ask me again I will tell you the same. No doubt in my mind. Follow the money, and need for power trail. I wrote Charles better watch his back, a couple of years ago, when the Sussexes left. Stick with the plot, wiile leaks, never stopped.
I think this is coming from camp Charles.
The same paper, always the same writer with the exclusive and always timed right before the weekend followed by the ‘investigation committee’ finding no wrong with his actions. Too many coincidences.
This is probably Charles doing this in a carefully controlled manner as he nears becoming king. Most likely a way to remove leverage from other people’s hands.
@Quinn, Possible cleansing before he takes the throne, yes.
He must really be beholden to middle eastern money to not want to offend them (and other donors who are allies of the bin laden family). Wow.
That’s a plausible suggestion. It gets the bad news out there before C becomes king and be leaking it themselves they may feel they have more control. I don’t think it’s come from KP as W will need to support from C if his marriage implodes esp after all the Twitter hashtags yesterday.
While the Twitter hashtags focus on William, the post that I read could easily be applied to several people —including Charles. So in leaking this story now, the goal could have been to put it out there before a coronation— when it might garner less attention than other, more salacious stories, or perhaps this story is intended as the distraction from other matters.
The disturbing thing is that these stories are possibly just a glimpse of all that’s gone on over the years. No wonder there’s concern about books being published and possible interviews with family members not tainted by stuff like this.
I am SO wondering what family dinners are like with this crew. My mind fairly boggles.
He could have so many people working against him. i prefer the theory that they’re all attacking with their own scandals at their own timely manner/schedule. Andrew is such an easy target? edward? maybe some political people didnt like that he was seen with rishi sunak like team boris johnson and of course williewonker and KatieKeen? The middletons? We juat heard that charles had some friction with them just the other day? The rosebushing team maybe coming back to get the windsors? The press who is in famine of meghan and harry stories and are releasing scandals one by one since the they got nothing on meg and harry like they used to? Who knows
I don’t see any benefit to Charles if he leaks negative stories about himself. The only way he won’t become king is if Parliament changes the 300+ year old law of succession. All he has to be is the heir and a Protestant – nothing there about him being a good guy. I suppose he could be pressured into abdicating, but accepting money from dodgy sources is pretty much the royal norm.
Exactly. All this nonsense about skipping Charles & going to William is pure fantasy. Ain’t gonna happen.
@Eurydice it amazes me how many people take the thought of Charles being “skipped over” in favor of William seriously. That is not how this works! Even my (American) child knows this, ffs. It doesn’t matter what kind of POS Charles is, his turn is next. He could molest a child on his way up the aisle at his coronation and still be crowned because that’s just the way they do things.
I think one of Charles’s biggest obstacles is that he wants to be beloved, like his mother. And he’s never going to be. He’ll be tolerated because people don’t have any choice, but that’s about it, IMO. The fact that he and his mistress are going to be K&Q isn’t enough for him; he’s constantly trying to endear Camilla to the world, and that’s clearly been a resounding failure.
He needs to just give it up, go about his business, and not worry about popularity contests because he’s never going to win.
Whoever is leaking this is, imo, only making people dislike him more than they did in the first place, but it’s not as if his sterling reputation will be damaged by these allegations because he’s never had one.
Why would the Charles camp want people to know that he persisted on this godawful and phenomenally stupid course over the objections of his advisers?
Harry was still in the army in 2013. Nice, Chuck, nice.
Whoa….
Could the leaker also be trying to throw roadblocks into any Harry-Chuckles reconciliation?
It’s amazing that he doesn’t have a scapegoat in place to take the blame. That’s his usual way of dealing.
Even if these are controlled leaks, they look terrible. They will follow him into his reign and there will likely be calls for either his removal or to abolish the monarchy. Yes to the latter, no to the former. Because they’re all like this and skipping Charles to move on to Worse Wills is not the win one might think it is.
These MEN are grotesque, stunted, stubborn, and stupid. And the matriarch ain’t that great either.
Either way, whether Charles is removed or the monarchy is abolished, there would need to be an act of Parliament (I don’t see Charles abdicating after having waited for so along all these years.). It would be a huge Brexit-style kerfuffle. Would the public care enough about this to place it above all the other issues in the UK?
If this is a controlled leak on Chuck’s part, he’s a fool. These stories could easily turn into massive, unstoppable controversy. But they aren’t… yet. Which is the only thing that makes me think these stories aren’t being printed to take down Charles… yet.
That gives controlled leak some plausibility as a theory. But I wonder if it’s as simple as the press needing material with H&M gone. I noticed there’s a desperate story in the Fail about Omid Scobie writing a new book, which calls him “Meghan Markle’s mouthpiece” and I thought of how desperate for clicks these media morons are.
Charles knows that they won’t become big stories because of his invisible contract with the press. The British establishment wants to maintain the status quo so the press will not make a fuss about this.
@Rapunzel— we’ve seen over and over again that this family thinks that they possess excellent PR instincts when in fact it’s always the opposite.
So I think I could buy the idea that Charles thought “getting ahead of the problem” was the right way to go — releasing it on his own timeline, so it doesn’t break the week before his coronation or something —but ITA with you that if the controlled-leak theory is correct, it only serves to make him look like an even more pathetic fool than he already is.
🗣 paging the “gold standards” and the “crisis management” team 🙄
Well, at least according to this story, even Charles’ own advisors thought this was a bad idea, but were “shouted down”. Now, this may be revisionist history, but a good reminder that even if the royals had actual gold standard advisors (doubtful), it means nothing if the principals themselves won’t listen to or follow said advice.
Actually the very fact that this snippet was included in the story rules out Charles as the source for me. There’s no way that he would leak a story that tells everyone he ignored good advice from his aides, went against the wishes of his charity’s own trustees and shouted at everyone before going on to do something colossally stupid. If he had leaked it, he would have been very careful to lay the blame for him taking the money elsewhere.
Charles definitely would have shot himself in the foot if he released this information without throwing the blame elsewhere for acquiring this money. It’s bad enough that he acccepts questionable cash in briefcases, but this money is also tainted by association with one of the most reviled terrorists in the world and the fact that this does not paint him in a good light makes me think as well this is coming from another source.
PS, and they have the unmitigated gall to ridicule Meghan as the briefcase girl.
@TheHench excellent point and I totally missed it the first time I read it. But you’re right. Charles would not have added in the fact that he defied all of his aides (who clearly knew better).
Unless it’s one of those three-dimensional-chess type things where Charles purposely puts some unflattering things in the leak in order to make people react the way you and I just did, but I honestly don’t think he’s that smart or cunning.
The thing is Charles is rich enough that he can fund his own charities. However his enormous greed has led him to depend on dirty money instead of spending his own. Royalists who project all kind of misdeeds on Harry and Meghan ignore the fact that Charles is a criminal and a grifter. There has been absolutely no outrage from the royal press about this new revelation.
Charles cannot afford to fund his own charities. The royal family private money is to protect themselves and their heirs to ensure that they can live comfortably and protect themselves from calamities. If they gave all their money away to charity they would become dangerously vulnerable.
If he can’t fund his own charities outright, then surely he could solicit donations and partnerships with (more) reputable people instead of doing business with the most notorious people in the world.
The more that comes out, the more I’m convinced that Charles is running a money laundering operation. A few million from these shady, disreputable characters every few years is just a drop in the bucket, so it’s not that his charities desperately need this money to survive, it’s that these people need their money laundered and Charles is happy to oblige.
Abolish the freaking monarchy already. Corrupt from top to bottom.
Yes @ Merricat!!!!
I hope that every taxpayer is protesting loudly that their cries for abolishment is heard all the way to Scotland!!!
I don’t think the Bin Laden family has anything to do with Osama. I don’t recall them being tied to terrorism or anything criminal. It’s more about the optics but why set yourself up being loosely tied to Osama Bin Laden.
I still want to see an accounting of his charity. I believe these royal foundations are just as much slush funds as they are giving agencies. I am sure tons are being spent on property management i.e. nest feathering for homes only he uses. And I agree with the others who have said this controlled leaks from Charles. He thinks if he comes out now it won’t taint his reign. But he is too arrogant to realize he is only hurting the monarchy. News of cash from terrorist-adjacent families released during an economic crisis is not a flex.
I think so too, royal family is supposedly fabulously wealthy, but imo a lot of the wealth may be tied up in land holdings and they don’t have a lot of liquidity? Thus the constant grift for supposed charities which ultimately just benefit their own castle restorations and decorating.
Life as usual, but the media landscape is changing gradually as other publishers like the Independent and Metro have been making huge gains recently.
The numbers matter, incredibly the sun has made gains, all at the expense of the Fail, the biggest loser.
Clarity comes with time, to answer the following question – Did the Fail’s loss to the Sun due to lawsuits and/or the addition of Wootton?
Unfortunately, this “recycled” revelation seemed inevitable and predictable due to unmentioned speculation of the past days.
Does the continued pattern gives credibility to the recent unmentionable rumours?
It cannot escape anyone that maintaining the coverage of this family as celebrities has lent itself to spectacle, of which people will move on from sheer boredom.
How many scandals of this magnitude can the RF withstand? Pedophiles and terrorist connections aren’t charming Rose bush speculations. (Meanwhile across the Atlantic elected officials are openly committing treason with minimal consequences, so why am I even pretending that powerful elites can’t do whatever TF they want?)
You’re spot on. Andrew and Charles are committing crimes or serious legal and ethical malfeasance, thinking their privilege gives them carte blanche. Willie’s, so far as we know, using his to seek out his kink and cheating. Not only do these reprobates not add value to the British taxpayers, they are bringing down this irrelevant centuries old institution.
Earlier on, I thought this could be Charles getting his shady dealings out into the public domain before he ascends, but this is starting to pile way up, and the optics of this are as bad as it gets. The journalist dropping all of these reveals has been building to this one — makes you wonder how much worse it can get. If we’re not at critical mass yet, this goes beyond a controlled release, in my view. So, who and why now? Again, not a British taxpayer, but at some point the republicans would seem to have a compelling case for #abolishthemonarchy.
This story was picked up by the New York Times and it’s picked up by other news outlets, not just the gossip press. It’s been trending on Twitter #princeofbegging. I’m guessing Andrew leaked this as payback for being cut off from royal life. William is a good candidate for the leak because he had the affair allegation come back but with a twist courtesy of Deux Moi. William trended for days on Twitter.
#princeofbegging – Now that’s funny.
I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to allude to that here, but I died when I saw #princeofbegging. Truly impeccable timing
I laughed hard when I read that too. Nothing like keeping it in the family.
Hmm. My original theory when these leaks began was somebody within Charles’ staff making a power play and trying to “clean house” ahead of him taking the throne by getting rid of longtime advisor Michael Fawcett and painting his staff as corrupt or incompetent. Maybe somebody like that creep Edward Young (currently the Queen’s secretary, but was close to Charles) trying to make sure he stays the top dog when Charles is the monarch.
But now I’m starting to think it’s not so Machevellian but straight up revenge. Because these leaks contain details of not only who Charles met with and when, but also his conversations with staff and how they felt about these transactions. And it makes Charles look much worse than his staff. I think there’s more detail than Andrew, William or anybody at BP could know without an inside source.
Maybe Fawcett wasn’t given a cushy enough landing and he’s burning it all down?
@JAY your reference to Edward Young made me wonder whether Charles has decided to grant H and his family unrestricted police protection and this leaked story is EY’s revenge for C siding with H.
I think Edward Young is far too cunning to shoot himself in the foot like that. He can kiss his cushy career goodbye if that’s the case, and I can’t see him doing that to the soon-to-be king. He’s already put himself in an untenable situation by not passing on Harry’s request for security to RAVEC, of which he is a member. He’s walking on thin ice and will want to stay on Charles’s good side.
Yet they tried to shame and cast aspersions on Meghan when she wore that piece of jewelry
given to her by the other Saudi guy all the while knowing Charles is shady AF. Charles is full of greed and entitlement. There had to have been some discussion about giving the money before they showed up with the cash. I mean…who just shows up and plunk down a million dollars in front of you and walks away? Either that or Charles’ reputation among these rich Arabs is so well-known they just know to show up with millions of dollars in cash. Awful, greedy POS of shady royal sheet.
I wonder if these so-called donors are trying to buy legitimacy by exchanging tons of cash for future MBEs or Knighthoods when Charles ascends, thereby ensuring potential business dealings with pro-Royalists in the future. Of so, the optics for Charles couldn’t be worse.
Not actually given TO Meghan. It was given to the Queen for H&M’s wedding and remains in possession of the Queen with the crown jewels. H&M never actually met the guy.
Exactly. They were not given TO Meghan/Harry as a gift. Has it ever been confirmed by H & M that the earrings were a gift for their wedding-may have missed something-or is that just the story put out. The earrings were given TO the Queen in early March of 2018. Looking into things I came across this great informative twitter thread. Meghan wore the earrings in October 2018. Mohammed bin Salman wasn’t accused of being behind the assasination until a month later. Not shocking members of the royal rota intentionally get timelines wrong.
https://twitter.com/DuchessCofC/status/1367459129854459909
I’m not recalling the British Media flagellating the Queen for playing host to a murderer earlier that year.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Angela Kelly slipped those earrings into Meghan’s suitcase for the tour. I’m sure AK47 knew the provenance but not Meghan.
@Feeshalori, I would not be surprised to find out the earrings were never a wedding gift to the Sussexes. Just a gift to the Queen that was then manipulated as part of the smear campaign against Meghan. It is fascinating (in an ugly way) to see that, the BM is reporting the donation by Bakr as a thing, when Mohammed bin Salman put Bakr bin Laden under house arrest in 2017. Then the Queen is welcoming Mohammed bin Salman at the palace less than a year later. Did MBS make a donation we’re not hearing about?
I find Chuck’s cash for access scandals fascinating. Imagine all the wealthy people of the world giving you suitcases full of money. There’s gotta be more to it than “access.” I think it’s about control.
@MSLOVE
yeah but remember the access to not publish the alleged affair, to the ffk. There are no clean hands in that family. Willy to me is just as pathetic as Charles. My hope is that they obliterate each other, and the people get tired of them.
Someone really wants to be king over Charles?.🤔 They are throwing poor Chucky under the boss. Greek tragedy in the making.
Yeah, like father, like son. It willy make no mistake about it. If he can call his mother paranoid, well you know he has no respect for his father. The rage monster wans that throne now.
William certainly does want the throne right now. His Royal Laziness deserves nothing.
I hope for 2 things: either Charles lives another 20+ years to spite Bulliam OR the monarchy is abolished long before Willnot even gets close.
I think the best twist would be if the Queen outlives Charles— which is not *likely*, but it’s also not out of the realm of possibility.
The BRF: -literal OG colonizers and slave traders
-responsible for genocides the world over
-literally one of several institutions responsible for residential schools
Comes out in the media that a member of the BRF is doing some shady things
The world: WHaAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa? We are so shocked that the BRF are doing shady things.
I dont think this is coming from Team Charles at all because this stuff is just the tip of the iceberg, imo. They’ve probably been involved in all kinds of shady and corrupt Middle Eastern and Russian dealings for a long time. All of them. Charles, Andrew, random cousins, and William too. That’s what they’re afraid Harry’s going write about. They don’t care what he has to say about Camilla. All of that “he’s going to trash poor Camilla” hand wringing is just a smokescreen. They know Harry knows the real shit that can ruin them all. Not only does Harry know but it’s Harry’s whose hands are clean, so he really has no reason to protect them. That’s what they’re all afraid of regarding the upcoming memoir.
And Harry said, ” if you knew what I know”. Also, Meghan got a look at what goes on behind the scenes at the firm and decided to funnel the cookbook cash away from the RF. She knows a lot as well.
Clicked comment too soon. I wanted to add that this is coming out before Harry’s book drops, to soften the blow if this nugget is mentioned.
@Julia K, maybe it’s bad wording on your part, Meghan did not decide to ‘funnel the cookbook cash away from the RF’. Harry & Meghan, made a point that the profits of the Together cookbook sales went to the Grenfell Tower community. Not to anything else. Considering Will & Kate did diddly sh*t. Oh wait, William had himself videoed painting a few brush strokes earlier that month.
In that case, it won’t even be necessary for Harry to make these “bombshell” revelations in his book because they’re doing all of the work for him! All of this dirt keeps getting released by people in the UK, as they simultaneously wring their hands at what could possibly be in Harry’s memoir.
The funniest part will be if there is absolutely nothing about any of the shady cash deals in Harry’s book, and they ended up putting it all out there for no reason, in an attempt to “get ahead of the story.”
These fcking people, honestly 😂
“What’s a million in unmarked notes between rich men with shitty brothers? After all, it’s not like it was in a briefcase.”
What astonishes me is that £1 million pounds is chump change (even in 2011 currency) for the bin Laden family & anyone from the house of Saud. Similar to me chucking a $20 at my nephew & telling him to blow it on candy.
Why is the price so low for such high PR risk? It’s baffling to me why you’d sell your public imagine for pocket change.
Can we be sure that Charles hasn’t bin Laden with additional payments from Osama’s family?
This astounds me, too. I’m reminded of all of the people who accepted cash from Epstein (a few million to MIT & Harvard, $500K to Sarah Ferguson, I think). I’m just a regular old person, but even to me those amounts seem waaaaaaaaay too low to justify selling out your integrity.
So why is a future king groveling to shady “donors” for a relative pittance? Is it just that he’s operated this way for so long that it feels normal to him? Does it feed his ego somehow? My guess is it’s both of those, plus an elaborate international money/influence laundering operation we’re only starting to glimpse. No wonder Andrew’s still in the fold; he’s not an anomaly in that family. Harry was.
I’m going with – “he’s operated this way for so long that it feels normal for him.” This news is from 2013, and we’re only just hearing about it. The cash for honors scandal was what, a couple of years ago? So he’s been doing shady stuff since at least 2013, and almost certainly before.
And it’s not just the cash going to Charles. Look at all those jewels from shady sources given to family members. Remember when the fuss was made over the earrings Meghan was given to wear, how many people on twitter posted pictures showing the various jewels of questionable background being worn by some of the women (e.g., Camilla)?
I’m 100% with you on the money laundering front – a few million here or there every few years is not necessary for the survival of Charles’ charities, so it’s not like he’s accepting it out of desperation. To me, the only thing that makes sense is a discrete money laundering operation for the global ultra elite.
I mean, the Queen was named in the Panama Papers; we know that the whole family is sitting on hoarded wealth that they’ve hidden away for centuries. Plus, Charles’ stupid Duchy makes money itself through the myriad products it sells, not to mention the rent he collects, so needing bundles of money for overhead just doesn’t make sense. If it’s the historic properties they’re worried about they can just cut a deal with the government and literally get half a billion dollars for the repairs, like they’ve done with Buckingham Palace. So I just don’t believe that he needs to do business with the shadiest people in the world just to scrape together enough pocket change so that the Duchy can continue to make jam. No way.
@Sunday – see my piece just below (#29) about what I think he’s needed money for over the years.
A million seems like nothing for laundering purposes, like someone mentioned above, Saudis have gobs of money. I do believe shenanigans are happening. Some kind of quid pro quo. Construction contracts, property purchases, political funding..options are endless.
Read that Woodside House, student housing in Glasgow, is owned by the Binladen Group along with other UK properties.
The Washington Post did a story in January 2016 titled The Mystery Behind a $700 million donation from the Saudi Royal Family to the Malaysian PM. Supposedly, some of it was returned. That’s a lot of Benjamins. D@mn, I was happy winning $10 on my $2 dollar mega millions ticket.
Maybe the British Royal Family are the true microtransaction pioneers.
But a million pounds per year per person, and how many hundreds or thousands of individual donors does Charles deal with in a year? And for these people it IS a microtransaction so they aren’t likely to stop unless their financial situation gets REAL dire (which it is unlikely to do)…I would not be surprised if many of them forget they’re even paying Charles such a small yearly sum.
And it gives Charles a shortlist of big money people he might be able to especially focus on for a big payday that he already has an in with, in the event he needs a large sum for something definite.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll throw it out one more time if anyone is interested in one reason Charles is likely to need lots of money. That reason is – Dumfries House. When the purchase was made in 2007, Charles via his charitable trust guaranteed a 20 million pound loan, secured, if I understand correctly, against the value of the adjacent land to be developed as a model housing community (Knockroon). There was an article here some weeks back about how Knockroon has failed, but long before that, the loan was problematic because of the 2008 financial crisis, which also depressed the value of property securing the load. IIRC, there were many articles written about this at the time, how the loan was total folly, etc.
For those who’ve been convinced Dumfries House was all about Charles just buying himself another home, here’s an article from the time, June 2007.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/jun/28/artnews.monarchy
Just three years later, September 2010, is another article about how this loan, along with problems with Duchy Originals (sold to Waitrose) is a threat to funding for the multiple other charities established by Charles.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2010/sep/10/dumfries-house-prince-charles
Finally, note that we’re talking here only about the purchase of the house and contents. That doesn’t include the cost over the years of renovations to the house, furniture, walled garden, outbuildings, establishment of the education and training programs and facilities, and simply running the estate. These costs must have been considerable.
Note – I’m not saying it isn’t completely outrageous for Charles to accept money from these shady sources, or trading cash for access and/or honors. Or that he may not be siphoning off something on the side for personal use.
But we’re talking major sums of money here, and my sense is the fallout from financial arrangements around acquiring Dumfries House plays a big part in why Charles has needed so much.
Good point, @windyriver. Dumfries House is an albatross around Charles’s neck. He seems to have an instinct for pursuing impossible things that pique his interest, not caring about how much damage he might cause in the pursuit & expecting the press to sell the whole mess to the public (see also: Camilla).
@Lizzie Bathory – Just to be clear about what I wrote above, it wasn’t Charles who came up with the idea of buying Dumfries House, and I didn’t mean to imply that. A number of heritage/preservationist groups recognized its value and were already working to come up with the money needed. Charles joined up and ultimately made it happen. And, IMO, it was worth it, for architectural and historical reasons, but also, because it’s been a boost to the economy, and residents, of a depressed, former coal mining region (in addition to providing training and jobs, there’s a number of facilities for locals, a wellness center, gym, programs for school children, etc.).
But that loan’s been an albatross for sure. A part of that is down to colossally bad timing with the 2008 crash – but also, the chances of Knockroon succeeding in that area the way his Poundbury project did in Dorset, was probably questionable from the start, given the local economy.
Interestingly, the current value of the Chippendale furniture collection in that house is huge. There’s one china cabinet with an estimated value in the neighborhood of 15 million pounds, and that’s just one of dozens of pieces. Part of the value of the house is the intact collection of that furniture with a clearly documented provenance.
Oh, no, I didn’t read it as you suggesting it was Charles’s idea. I agree that on balance, it’s very good that it was saved & lots of people were passionate about not having the contents sold off piecemeal. It seems clear, though, that the financing on Charles’s end wasn’t well thought out.
Oooh, and don’t forget the art forgeries loaned to Charles/Dumfries by James Stunt to secure millions in loans!
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a31077702/prince-charles-dumfries-house-artwork-scandal/
@C-Shell – thanks for this, never heard about it. I see Michael Fawcett and his sticky fingers popped up, yet again. No mystery why Charles put him in place as head of the Prince’s Foundation, of which Dumfries House is now a part. It was previously a separate trust, until around 2018.
Hard to miss the parallel also with Jason Knauf being made head of Will and Kate’s Royal Foundation. Two sketchy men heading up two fundraising organizations with questionable activities. Will seemingly can’t be bothered to learn much about the actual work he should be doing, but apparently has managed to learn from his dad the important lessons about how to game the system.
This shit is on my local news rn!!! Yes KATU I see you Hannah Olsen, celebitchy reader!!! Love that your smart escapism is such a valued news source, Katie!!!!
This is so crazy. Not a good look, Tampon.
(I get this is a big story but I have noticed our local news gal covering your posts and I dig it so dang much ok)
Is Amelia Fawcett the trustee of the PWCF related to Michael Fawcett?
No, she’s an American businesswoman with a formidable background in business, finance and philanthropy.
wait for Megan stories to start leaking
LOL. They try and fail.
I’ve got 3rd and 4th questions Kaiser: why wasnt this meeting or any of these other meetings recorded in the Court Circular? And don’t most charities have a finance team that should be responsible for soliciting and accepting donations? Like I know that when a charity has a celebrity principal that the principal can be helpful in getting more donors by using their network and profile but there should be paid members of staff who can be held accountable actually securing these donations and bringing the prospect of accepting these possibly donations to the board BEFORE the donation is accepted not after.
Also: there’s no evidence linking the brothers to Osama’s terrorism but he did use his family’s wealth to start Al-Qaeda and the family has continued to grow their wealth through a close relationship with Saudi Arabia’s corrupt government which has been known to finance terrorism. (Though MBS had Bakr bin Laden jailed just 2 years after this donation so they’re not even in the good graces of the Saudi government anymore).
I don’t think this was Andrew or Peggy. Neither have the brains to pull this off nor Charles’ trust to even know.
Dead. Thank you, Steph.
Holy forking shirt! I have no words. I’m so embarrassed. I cannot think of any situation where it would be even 0.0001% ok for any member of the BRF to accept money from the Bin Laden family. I’m so sorry American Celebitches. I’m also pissed off that KKKHate is not at Wembley supporting our Lionesses. She did ham it up with Ben Ainslie this morning. TBQH Fck this whole *royal* family. My arse. Apologies for profanity all
I wonder if the upcoming HBO documentary about Diana is the reason for the timing here? The whole world is about to get a refresher on her thoughts re: Charles’ fitness to be king.
Wow, I knew the BRF was super shady but to know a senior royal of the BRF accepted cash from a family with ties to one of the biggest villains in living history (even if they had nothing to do with him)… This is on par with his great-uncle former King Edward and Wallis Simpson meeting Hitler and exchanging correspondence with Nazi officials (just had a quick look at the Wikipedia entry for the Marburg Files which I was unfamiliar with).
I think the Queen’s aides might be behind the leak, they’ll be gone in a few years once the Queen dies and Charles gives them the boot and installs his own team. Cue a stupid Harry and Meghan story to distract from this mess in 3, 2, 1…
I’m not sure what to make of this. There is an order of succession and short of Charles committing murder, being found insane, or do something like financing a terrorist group he will remain the next in line. These stories, whether it’s about Charles or William are not only damaging the individual but more importantly it’s damaging the monarchy and I don’t see why any of them would want to inherit a tarnished crown.
Almost 21 years later, the name Osama bin Laden is still a trigger for me. On 9/11 I stood at the last track at the Hoboken Train Terminal and watched in eerie silence as the second tower collapsed into itself. For weeks afterward there was a burnt smell in lower Manhattan. Announcement would be made if military planes where flying in the area so to alleviate the panic when these planes were spotted. I get that these are Osama’s half brothers and there may have been an age difference, or they grew up in different households and are in no way responsible for the action of their brother, but as someone pointed out in the tread above, a million dollars is not that much and not worth Charles linking his name to that of the bin Ladens.
I am not sure if we even have the number of bi-racial American women required to draw the attention away from this mess.
👏👏
@ Hamsterjam…that is an absolute peach of a comment 😂!
Geez. How much money do them BRF need?
When is enough, enough?
Involved with any member of the bin laden family is never a good thing.
Down with The Monarchy!
Eat.The.Rich
That’s what I will never understand – the greed. The BRF is already one of the wealthiest families in the world (I know there are arguments to be made about how a lot of it is technically the public’s money, and much of it tied up in land— but for argument’s sake, we can all agree that for the most part, they have more money than the majority of people on the entire planet).
They already live in castles and palaces, have butlers and chefs and housekeepers and assistants; they take private jets everywhere and wear some of the world’s most incredible jewels…WHAT MORE DO THESE PEOPLE NEED?!!
The greed is just astounding to me.
That’s what I will never understand – the greed. The BRF is already one of the wealthiest families in the world (I know there are arguments to be made about how a lot of it is technically the public’s money, and much of it tied up in land— but for argument’s sake, we can all agree that for the most part, they have more money than the majority of people on the entire planet).
They already live in castles and palaces, have butlers and chefs and housekeepers and assistants; they take private jets everywhere and wear some of the world’s most incredible jewels…WHAT MORE DO THESE PEOPLE NEED?!!
The greed is just astounding to me.
Abolish the monarchy! The British royals are nothing but trouble
It took nearly 10 years to expose this. There has to be years of hidden dirt waiting to come out.
If they let this bombshell of the bag, I cant even fathom what the tabs are holding back.
This is turning into a significant international news story It was on the US NBC evening news this evening (Sunday) Tom Bower has never been mentioned I think
Wait, I am slow on the uptake here. He took money from Osama Bin Laden’s family years AFTER he was killed?
At that point in time even a 4 year old could tell you that Bin Laden’s family sponsors terrorism.
What the hell kind of organic shortbread is he baking that requires 1 million bucks to prop it up?
It is money laundering pure and simple and he should got down for it.
It is what it is… Prince Charles, the future King, is under attack. Why? Who benefits? etc are some of the questions one may ask.
You are not allowed to deposit more than 10K cash into a bank in England without having to explain where it came from. That is the law.
You are not allowed to enter the UK with over 10K cash. That is the law.
It was illegal for the bag man to enter the country with that much cash.
It was illegal for PC’s charity to deposit that much cash.
UNLESS THEY DECLARED THE CASH WHEN THEY DEPOSITED IT.
That is easy to find out
This is giant dirty money laundering scheme
There’s something going on behind the scenes imo.
I think there is someone flexing their muscles and saying I can destroy your reputation…
Prince Charles and this donation in 2013. Though did he accept it himself or was it Fawcett who appears to do things his way, so long as he gets a cut?
And then there is the new hashtag #princeofp….