Another Royal Rumble: Prince Andrew’s Household forced to Return €420,000 to Charitable Trust

A charitable trust supporting the work of Prince Andrew has been required to return more than €420,000 in payments made to a trustee after a public watchdog intervened.

THE Duke of York’s charitable trust breached charity law in relation to payments of more than €336,000 to a former trustee, according to a report from the Charity Commission.

The commission found that Prince Andrew’s charity had paid €3,976,000‬ to a former trustee to work as a director for three subsidiary companies in a severe breach of its rules. 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.

“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.”

A statement from the Charity Commission said: “The former trustee was an employee of the Duke of York’s household, and from April 2015 to January 2020 undertook work for the trading subsidiaries.

“The Duke of York’s household was then reimbursed for a proportion of this employee’s time by the subsidiaries after the year-end. These payments totalled €397,932.64.”

The Duke has been in the spotlight again during the week when the US Department of Justice announced they want to see Prince Andrew answer questions over his friendship with disgraced convicted paedophile Jeffery Epstein.