According to The Sunday Times, Prince Charles met with the half-brother of al-Qaeda founder Bakr in London – and reportedly agreed to accept £1 million. The report claims that several of the royal family’s closest advisers urged Charles to return the money. Clarence House denied that Prince Charles was personally involved, telling Sky News: “The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Trust has assured us that thorough due diligence has been done in accepting this donation. “The decision to accept was made solely by the charity’s trustees and any attempt to suggest otherwise is false.” Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund added: “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 the government. The decision to accept the donation was made entirely by the trustees. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is misleading and inaccurate.” Osama bin Laden was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the US. The Sunday Times claims that Charles’ meeting with Bakr, the patriarch of the wealthy Saudi family, occurred two years after Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan. The newspaper said the donation was accepted despite the objections of councilors – one of whom said the money “wouldn’t be good for anyone”. The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund was established in 1979 and awards grants to not-for-profit organizations registered in the United Kingdom for projects in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and other countries. This is not the first time that PWCF’s activities have come under scrutiny. Earlier this year, the Sunday Times reported that Prince Charles had accepted a suitcase full of cash as a charitable donation from Qatar’s former prime minister. Three large sums of money totaling €3 million were personally delivered to the prince between 2011 and 2015 by Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. The palace did not deny that on one occasion, it gave the prince €1 million, which was reportedly placed in carrier bags by Fortnum & Mason, the luxury grocer that has a royal charter to provide the royal family with groceries. Clarence House insists all the correct procedures were followed around the donations – and a senior palace source later said Prince Charles accepting bags of cash for his charity “will not happen again”. Earlier in July, the Charity Commission said it would take no further action on the donation – adding that it had “no concerns” about the governance of the prince’s charity and that trustees had submitted information through a serious incident report. There was no indication these payments were illegal, but the anti-monarchy group Republic said it had written to the Charity Commission to ask for an investigation.
