Charles, 73, met with Bakr bin Laden, the patriarch of the Saudi Arabian family, and his brother, Shafiq, at Clarence House in London on October 30, 2013, to broker the payment, according to the Sunday Times of London. The men are half-brothers of Osama bin Laden and the meeting came two years after the terrorist was killed by US special forces in Pakistan. The paper said the future king agreed to the contribution despite the objections of his advisers at Clarence House, the prince’s London residence, and the Prince of Wales’s charity fund, saying at least one of the organisation’s trustees had pleaded with him to return the money. cash. His advisers told him that if word of the transaction leaked, it would cause national outrage and damage his reputation, the paper said. Charles reportedly made the donations despite councilors’ objections. Tim Graham Photo Library via Get “The fact that a member of the highest level of the British establishment would choose to mediate deals with a name and a family that has not only raised alarm bells, but horror around the world. . . why do that? What good reason is there to do that?’ a source told the paper. Charles is said to have felt it would be too embarrassing to return the money to the bin Laden brothers, who are not believed to be involved in terrorist activities. Sir Ian Cheshire, the chairman of the Prince of Wales Charitable Trust told STOL that the donation had been “entirely” agreed by the organisation’s five trustees. “The donation from Sheikh Bakr Bin Laden in 2013 was carefully considered by PWCF trustees at the time. Due diligence was carried out, with information sought from a wide range of sources, including government. The decision to accept the donation was made entirely by the trustees. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is misleading and inaccurate,” Chesire told the paper. A spokeswoman for Clarence House said the charity had “assured us that thorough due diligence was carried out in accepting this donation. The decision to accept was made solely by the charity’s trustees and any attempt to suggest otherwise is false.’ Charles was reported to have received other questionable donations to his charity from a controversial Qatari politician with the cash delivered from 2011 to 2015 in handbags, a suitcase and several designer shopping bags from the famous Fortnum & Mason department store. The revelations led a royal source to say donations were no longer being accepted in this way.
