King Charles is the patron of several charities, one of the main ones he launched when he was still Prince of Wales: The Prince’s Trust. This trust was put in place to help the younger generation get a good start in life.
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New evidence has caused King Charles to be under scrutiny after the details about a donation from an Australian billionaire have been leaked. Recordings of the billionaire talking about his donation and thoughts on King Charles have been uncovered after a joint investigation led by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Australia's 60 Minutes.
Why have these tapes caused a scandal for King Charles, and did you know this isn’t the first time donations to The Prince’s Trust have been called into question?
A donation from an Australian billionaire is being called into question
As reported by Newsweek, The Prince’s Trust had received a donation from Anthony Pratt, an Australian billionaire. One of the King’s aides allegedly feared that this donation would ‘bring down the monarchy’. Pratt is one of the founding patrons and benefactors of The Prince’s Trust in Australia.
Pratt was recorded saying that then-Prince Charles was a ‘laughing stock’ but he was glad that then-Prince Charles was interested in him.
As per Newsweek, Pratt said:
They're just so close to becoming the king that he doesn't want me to bring down the monarchy.
What I'm trying to do is to network with people that can be useful
When he [Charles] introduced me to Camila... 'he's been very useful'... and I thought 'well, that's an insult' but then I thought 'oh no, it's better than being irrelevant.'
Buckingham Palace released a statement
In quite a surprising event, Buckingham Palace released a statement concerning the allegations explaining that the donations were well documented and not given directly to then-Prince Charles as it had been suggested.
Newsweek revealed the following statement from the palace:
Mr. Pratt and his charitable foundation have been supporting the former Prince of Wales' charities for many years and, as is well-documented, he is the Founding Patron of Prince's Trust Australia.
It is also a matter of record that Mr. Pratt is one of Australia's foremost philanthropists, who has donated to a wide variety of charitable organizations.
Any donations from Mr. Pratt were therefore to support the work of the former Prince of Wales' charitable organizations.
Not the first time a donation to The Prince’s Trust has been called into question
As mentioned above, this isn’t the first time that a donation to King Charles’ charity has been questioned.
Indeed, it was thought that the former chief executive of the trust, Michael Fawcett had accepted a donation to the charity from a Saudi tycoon in exchange for a knighthood and citizenship. According to the recordings, which were aired on October 22 by Australia’s 60 Minutes, Pratt references this scandal.
Pratt claimed that he wasn’t after a knighthood as ‘everyone’s got one’:
Well, he just doesn't want the appearance of anything. It's [the donations] legal, but he doesn't want to look like he's ... because he just got into trouble for giving someone a knighthood in exchange for money
I don't think I'll ever get a knighthood. I don't really want one to be honest because it's like everyone's got one.
Read more:
⋙ King Charles finally addresses leaking pen incident that left him angry during ancestral ceremony
⋙ King Charles will no longer meddle with politics but he wants to be 'kept informed'
⋙ Prince William: His massive salary finally revealed as he faces backlash over Homewards project
Sources used:
Newsweek: ‘King Charles Hit by Secret Tape Scandal’
