Prince Charles faced mounting pressure to cut ties with his closest aide after extraordinary allegations that he offered to help secure a knighthood for a Saudi tycoon.
Michael Fawcett – Charles’s former valet – was forced to step down as chief of the Prince’s Foundation at the weekend amid a string of claims about his conduct while running the charity.
It was alleged that Mr Fawcett, 58, had offered to ‘support’ a major Saudi donor to Charles’s charities – Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz – in his efforts to secure both an honour and British citizenship.
Mr Fawcett – at his own suggestion – has agreed to ‘temporarily’ step down from his £95,000-a-year role with the Foundation while an investigation is carried out
A letter on headed notepaper made clear that Mr Fawcett was prepared to assist in bumping up the tycoon’s honorary CBE to a knighthood.
Dr bin Mahfouz has been one of the most prolific donors to the prince’s charities, giving more than £1.5million to help fund renovations of residences used by Charles.
The prince is understood to have ‘known nothing’ of either Mr Fawcett’s letter or of emails from fixers about the prospect of an honour.
Indeed, the Mail understands that he was ‘so surprised’ by the claims that he ‘couldn’t believe them’ at first.
However, the revelations in The Mail on Sunday and The Sunday Times represented the third time the future king has found himself facing a scandal involving Mr Fawcett – who has twice before been forced to resign from royal service.
Mr Fawcett – at his own suggestion – has agreed to ‘temporarily’ step down from his £95,000-a-year role with the Foundation while an investigation is carried out. The future king, crucially, is said to be ‘supportive’ of this.
But last night he faced pressure to finally cut ties with his former valet if allegations of wrongdoing are found to be proven, with one source suggesting there should be a ‘timely parting of ways’.
The Prince’s Foundation is also facing the threat of a possible police inquiry.
Former minister Norman Baker, a respected author on royal finances, said the sale of honours was an offence and he would be writing to Met Commissioner Cressida Dick today to ask her to investigate.
The prince is understood to have ‘known nothing’ of either Mr Fawcett’s letter or of emails from fixers about the prospect of an honour
He said: ‘The letter from Michael Fawcett seems to show there is a prima facie link being made between the donor getting an honour for money coming into Prince Charles’s charity, which is an offence.’
Mr Baker questioned whether an internal
