King Charles was warned as long ago as 2019 that the Royal Family’s name was being ‘abused’ by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s business associations, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
In a bombshell email, a whistleblower told the Palace that the former Duke had secret financial links to controversial millionaire financier David Rowland, who was abusing his royal links.
Messages seen by this newspaper also appear to show that Andrew – who was sensationally arrested on Thursday over suspicions of misconduct in public office – allowed Mr Rowland to effectively join in with his official duties.
The cache of emails threaten to draw Charles further into the crisis, triggered by Andrew’s links to Jeffrey Epstein, and allegations he passed potentially confidential and sensitive documents to the convicted paedophile.
Andrew once told Epstein that Mr Rowland was his ‘trusted money man’. The banker and his son Jonathan joined Andrew on trips he made in his official capacity as a taxpayer-funded trade envoy between 2001 and 2011, visiting places such as China and former Soviet states.
Over a period of several years, Andrew repeatedly alerted Mr Rowland to business opportunities arising from his work.
Mr Rowland once gave Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson £40,000 to help clear debts and, in 2017, paid off a £1.5million loan for Andrew.
In August 2019, a whistleblower who had detailed knowledge of Andrew’s business dealings with Mr Rowland sent an email to Charles, then Prince of Wales, via the royal lawyers Farrer & Co, warning of ‘David Rowland’s abuse of the Royal Family’.
It said: ‘HRH the Duke of York’s actions suggest that his Royal Highness considers his relationship with David Rowland more important than that of his family.’
The whistleblower then sent a second email to Mr Rowland himself, copying in Clive Alderton, Charles’s private secretary, and Mark Bridges, the late Queen’s solicitor at Farrer & Co.
That message said: ‘The evidence provided unequivocally proves that you have abused the Royal Family’s name.’
The email further alleged that Mr Rowland ‘paid HRH The Duke of York to procure a Luxembourg Banking Licence’ for his private bank, Banque Havilland, and included what were claimed to be Andrew’s bank account details.
The whistleblower email forms part of a raft of new MoS revelations about Andrew’s business activities, including:
- Andrew told Jonathan Rowland he’d ‘had a very supportive chat’ with PM David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband, apparently at Prince William’s wedding in April 2011, when questions were being raised over his trade envoy position following this newspaper’s publication of the now infamous photograph of him clutching 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre.
- Andrew secretly used an official trade mission to help strike a multi-million-pound deal for his business associates to sell oil to China, with the hope of making ‘tons of money’ with Epstein.
- A British ambassador warned the Government more than two decades ago that Andrew’s behaviour as trade envoy was damaging his country and the Royal Family.
The MoS can also reveal that Andrew invited Jonathan Rowland to a meeting at Buckingham Palace attended by the UK’s ambassador to Montenegro to help boost the Rowlands’ business ambitions.
The ambassador put government staff at the Rowlands’ disposal, while Andrew gave David Rowland his schedule for a trip to Montenegro as UK trade envoy.
Emails show that a British diplomat in Moscow told the Rowlands the Palace event was ‘a great success’ and connected them with the British embassy in the Serbian capital Belgrade, which covered Montenegro at the time. ‘If there is anything the commercial team… can do to help, please do not hesitate to contact’ them, he wrote, copying in the relevant official.
On Saturday, MPs called for the police to study the evidence acquired by the MoS. Andrew has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
A Buckingham Palace source said that given the ongoing police investigation into Andrew it would not be possible to give any comment on the whistleblower’s email, adding that any relevant material in the possession of the MoS should be shared with the appropriate authorities.
This newspaper has offered to share the dossier with Thames Valley Police.
Asked if it might form part of their investigation, a spokesman said: ‘We don’t have anything to add to our existing statements on this case at this time.’
There are growing calls for the Government to introduce legislation to remove Andrew from the line of succession, where he remains eighth in line to the throne. Defence minister Luke Pollard said stripping him of his right to succession was the ‘right thing to do’, regardless of the outcome of the police investigation.
Gloria Allred, a lawyer who has represented 27 Epstein victims, urged the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales to give statements to police.
She told the BBC: ‘King Charles and all the members really of the Royal Family have said that they support the victims. The best way…. is for them to also do interviews with the police if they are requested to do so. Or they could volunteer to do so. I would respectfully request that they speak out about what Andrew may have ever told them about his role with Jeffrey Epstein.’
Tonight, Jonathan Rowland said he had ‘no idea’ about the email to Charles, but added: ‘These refer to my stolen emails. They have been extensively reported in your newspaper. You can’t procure a banking licence, that’s an idiotic suggestion.’
He added that he ‘no recollection’ of the email relating to the Royal Wedding.
Banque Havilland had its licence withdrawn in 2024 by the European Central Bank, a decision it is appealing.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘These explosive new MoS findings are shocking, but not surprising. The police should investigate them at once.
‘Andrew has acted disgracefully and deserves nothing less than to face justice over his deals – something which has been denied to Epstein’s victims for too long. No one is above the law.’
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘Each day new revelations appear and they are all horrific. Police investigations into these MoS revelations are urgently needed.’
Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman, said: ‘The police must investigate the latest revelation urgently. No stone must be left unturned to establish the truth. Andrew has done his best to wreck Britain’s reputation on the world stage through his association with Epstein.’
The offence of misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, although Andrew has not been charged. He was released under investigation on Thursday evening, 11 hours after his arrest.
The Metropolitan Police started the process of ‘identifying and contacting former and serving officers, who may have worked closely, in a protection capacity’ with the ex-prince.
In a statement, the force said: ‘They have been asked to consider carefully whether anything they saw or heard during that period of service may be relevant to our ongoing reviews and to share any information that could assist us.’
It refused to confirm how many current and former staff members were involved.
