King Charles, who is being treated for cancer, has had more on his schedule this week than his heir. Bloop! On Wednesday, Charles did a Zoom with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Charles also did some in-person diplomatic stuff. He formally accepted the credentials of two new ambassadors (from Mauritania and Algeria) and the king allowed a photographer to capture photos. Which is why we have so many photos of Charles’s hands looking discolored and swollen. Earlier in the week, Charles did an in-person audience with Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, because the Sunak government has released their budget this week. Speaking of, there was a little something extra for Charles in the budget:

The chancellor has used his spring budget to allocate £6 million of taxpayers’ money to the King’s charity. Jeremy Hunt has given the award to the King’s Foundation to trial “regeneration projects anchored around heritage assets and sustainability considerations”.

The chancellor met the King in the private audience room at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, as is customary before a budget. He went on to include the details of a multimillion-pound project for the King’s Foundation, formerly the Prince’s Foundation. Under the heading “Community regeneration projects”, the budget states: “The government is providing £6 million of funding for work with the King’s Foundation to pilot how community-led regeneration projects anchored around heritage assets and sustainability considerations can complement government’s wider place-based initiatives for levelling up, subject to business case approval”.

A source said: “It’s pretty incredible that public money has been allocated to the King’s charity given everything that has gone on there.”

In September 2021, a letter was published in which Michael Fawcett, a close aide of the king, said that he was “willing and happy” to support a wealthy foreign donor in his application for British citizenship and to “increase his Excellency’s honour from Honorary CBE to that of KBE in accordance with Her Majesty’s Honours committee”. Fawcett subsequently stepped down from his role as the charity’s chief executive.

The Metropolitan Police dropped its “cash for honours” investigation after arresting two employees but concluding that the individuals should face no further action. However, the King’s Foundation, which is based in Dumfries House in Ayrshire, remains under active investigation by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator over a historical donation from a foreign donor, some of which appeared to be misappropriated after being passed to middle men acting for the charity.

[From The Times]

I know it’s difficult to keep up with all of Charles’s financial shenanigans, but this is bad – this money is going to the King’s Foundation (formerly the Prince’s Foundation), which controls Dumfries House and some of Charles’s sketchier schemes. Under the guise of “fundraising” for his foundation, Charles passed out knighthoods to all manner of oligarchs and despots, all for seven-figure donations. I’m still halfway convinced that Charles and Michael Fawcett used the foundation as a slush fund to cover up some of their failed schemes elsewhere. And now the foundation is getting taxpayer money for some projects, likely in or around Dumfries House? Hm.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.