Prince Charles is said to have accepted suitcases stuffed with â¬1million (£861,000) between 2011 and 2015 from senior Qatari royal Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, according to a report.
An exclusive report by the Sunday Times of London revealed that the Prince of Wales reportedly received â¬3 million in cases from Sheikh Hamad for the Prince of Wales Charity Foundation. It is believed that the former prime minister of Qatar made three payments to the Prince.
The report suggests that the payments were made in private meetings. In one of them, the Prince was seen departing with carrier bags of Fortnum and Mason, possibly carrying almost £858,070.
In another meeting at the Clarence House in 2015, Prince Charles walked out with a suitcase filled with £861,000. These meetings are not documented in the Court Circular, the official record of past royal engagements.
The former adviser to the Queen’s son stated that all those who knew the transactions were taking place were “very uncomfortable” with the entire situation. Adding later the source said that all they could do was count the money, believed to be made up of â¬500 notes, make a record of it then inform the bank, Times of London reported.
The suitcases and bags were then collected by the officials from Coutts UK Private Bank. The bank has served every member of the royal family since George IV.
The members of the royal family are discouraged from accepting gifts of high monetary value as per the royal gifts policy of 2003, but it is not suggested that the payments received by the heir to the throne are illegal. The royals are permitted to take a cheque on behalf of a charity.
The spokesperson for Clarence House explained to the reporters that all payments were “charitable donations” by Sheikh Hamad and were immediately transferred to one of the charities where the prince is a patron, Daily Star reported.
“We are disappointed not to have been given more time to look into this matter, which dates from a decade ago,” the spokesperson added.
An official statement was similarly released by the Coutts Bank where it was mentioned that all receipts of cash payments are “thoroughly reviewed” and that they operate on a firm policy to evaluate the purpose and nature of “unusual transactions.”
