Prince Andrew Charitable Trust broke law over payments to trustee, Charity Commission finds

Charity Commission says it has since resolved the issue and returned £355,297 to Prince Andrew’s Charitable Trust

Prince Andrew’s Charitable Trust broke a charity law over a payment it made to one of its trustees, the Charity Commission has found.

The Commission said it had identified concerns about a former trustee of the Trust being paid by the organisation’s three trading subsidiary companies as a director of those companies.

According to the Commission, the trustee was an employee of the Duke of York’s household from April 2015 to January 2020 and undertook work for those trading subsidiaries.

Trustees cannot be paid to act as directors of a subsidiary company unless there is authority from the charity’s governing document or the payments are authorised by the Commission or the court.

None of those measures was in place when the payment was made, the Commission said.

The issue is thought to have come to light after the trust reported to the Commission a potential reputational risk arising from significant media coverage of an interview with the Duke of York, broadcast by the BBC, in November 2019.

Helen Earner, director of operations at the Charity Commission, said: “Charity is special — with unpaid trusteeship a defining characteristic of the sector.

“By allowing the payment of a trustee via its subsidiaries the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust breached charity law, and by insufficiently managing the resulting conflict of interest from this payment, the trustees did not demonstrate the behaviour expected of them.”

Ms Earner added: “We’re glad that concerns we identified are now resolved, after the charity acted quickly and efficiently to rectify these matters. The recovered funds will now go towards the causes intended, and we will continue to work with the trustees as they wind up the charity.”

The Prince Andrew Charitable Trust supported the Duke of York’s charitable work in the areas of education, entrepreneurship, science, technology and engineering.

Trustees have a duty to act with reasonable care and skill, taking account of any special knowledge, skill or professional status, the Commission said.

This board of trustees, which included a lawyer, was expected to have had the knowledge and experience to act in accordance with charity law.

The Commission said it has since resolved the issue and returned £355,297 to the Prince Andrew Charitable Trust.

It comes as the Duke of York is facing increasing pressure to cooperate with US authorities investigating the activities of disgraced financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Prince Andrew’s lawyers have spoken out about their alleged dealings with the US department of justice (AP)

Prince Andrew’s legal team has insisted that he offered to help police with their enquiries on at least three separate occasions — a claim disputed by US law enforcement.

On Tuesday, US attorney general William Barr confirmed there were no plans to make a formal request for the Queen’s second son to be extradited to the US.

“I don’t think it’s a question of handing him over,” he told Fox News. “I think it’s just a question of having him provide some evidence.”