The Prince of Wales’ right-hand man dramatically quit last night over the ‘cash for honours’ inquiry.
Michael Fawcett, the chief executive at The Prince’s Foundation has resigned. His friends said that he was ‘heartbroken’ as well as’shattered’ about recent events.
The contract he had signed to arrange events for Charles has been terminated. This follows reports that he had offered to assist a billionaire Saudi donor for the prince’s charity to obtain a knighthood as well as British citizenship.
According to The Daily Mail, the former valet of the prince, who rose to power and influence in the court of the future king, does not want to prevent an official investigation into these claims. This has not yet been reported back.
Friends say the scandal – which broke in early September – has had a ‘devastating’ effect on Mr Fawcett, 59, and he has only now felt well enough to make a decision about his future.
The friend said: ‘Michael has resigned and he will never be coming back. He has lost five stone in weight and is a shadow of his former self.’
A spokesman for The Prince’s Foundation confirmed: ‘Michael Fawcett has resigned from his post as CEO of The Prince’s Foundation.’
Michael Fawcett was photographed outside his South West London house on Sunday. He has now resigned as the chief executive at The Prince’s Foundation. His friends said that he’s heartbroken and “shattered” by recent events.
Charles was a man Charles could not live with for the better part of forty-eight years. Pictured on a royal tour
Clarence House informed the Mail that it would cut ties with Mr Fawcett personally and not work with Premier Mode Events, which again sealed his disastrous fall from grace. A spokesman said: ‘Michael Fawcett and Premier Mode will not be providing services to us in the future. We have all agreed to end these arrangements.’
Charles loved Mr Fawcett for four decades.
However, his career was marred by scandal and he was forced to quit twice after being accused for bullying employees and selling royally inappropriate gifts.
He was eventually reinstated on both occasions and Premier Mode received a lucrative contract to manage most of the Prince’s official and personal entertaining.
In 2007, Mr Fawcett was made chief executive of Scotland’s Dumfries House, a stately home Charles helped save for the nation which has since been turned into a community facility and hub for his considerable charitable activities.
In 2018, following a reorganisation of those charities, Mr Fawcett was appointed as £95,000-a-year chief executive of the newly created The Prince’s Foundation, much to the surprise – and concern – of some current and former household staff.
Mr Fawcett set about becoming a ‘fundraiser extraordinaire’, raising millions to support the prince’s philanthropic work every year.
But it was his successes in securing multi-million-pound contributions that led to his demise.
In the autumn of 2016, questions were raised about Mahfouz Marei Mubarak, a billionaire from Saudi Arabia, who was awarded an honorary CBE by Charles in 2016.
He had donated £1.5 million, spent mostly on renovating two of Charles’s Scottish properties, where parts of the grounds are named after him. According to some reports, he had paid hundreds of thousands to fixers connected to the prince to secure an honour. Mahfouz has denied all wrongdoing.
Significantly, a letter emerged which Mr Fawcett wrote to Mr Mahfouz in 2017, in which he said: ‘In light of the ongoing and most recent generosity of His Excellency Sheikh Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, I am happy to confirm to you, in confidence, that we are willing and happy to support and contribute to the application for citizenship.
‘I can further confirm we are willing to make an application to increase His Excellency’s honour from Honorary CBE to that of KBE in accordance with Her Majesty’s Honours Committee.’ Sources said Prince Charles was not aware of any link between donations to the foundation and honours and was ‘deeply shocked’.
Mr Fawcett set about becoming a ‘fundraiser extraordinaire’, raising millions to support the prince’s philanthropic work every year. Picture of Prince Charles and Mr Fawcett in Sandringham, 1990
Prince Charles and Mr Fawcett at the Christmas Shoot in Sandringham, Norfolk, December 1992
Prince Charles is seen with Mr Fawcett. Mr Fawcett’s departure will be seen by his enemies – who viewed him as a pernicious influence on the royal household – as long overdue. And it will certainly provide the Prince of Wales with a ‘clean sheet’ when he becomes king
Some royal insiders have questioned how the heir to the throne will manage to keep his charitable ventures – including Dumfries House – afloat without Mr Fawcett (pictured) to ‘rattle the cans’
In 2007, Mr Fawcett was made chief executive of Scotland’s Dumfries House, a stately home Charles helped save for the nation which has since been turned into a community facility and hub for his considerable charitable activities
The Prince’s Foundation said it took the allegations seriously and immediately ordered an investigation.
Mr Fawcett announced he would ‘temporarily’ step down from his post while the matter was probed. He has now decided to make this decision permanent even though the results have not been disclosed.
A friend said that despite his ‘many mis-steps’ over the years, Mr Fawcett had been a ‘loyal and faithful servant’ to the prince and had played a crucial role in his philanthropic efforts, helping Charles to raise more than £120 million for charity each year. Some royal insiders have questioned how the heir to the throne will manage to keep his charitable ventures – including Dumfries House – afloat without Mr Fawcett to ‘rattle the cans’.
A source said: ‘Michael will have no more dealings with either His Royal Highness or Clarence House from now on. It is very clear. He’s not coming back in any way, shape or form, that cannot be stressed enough.
‘The report hasn’t been finished yet. This is his and only decision. He isn’t pre-empting any possibility of finding it.
A friend said that despite his ‘many mis-steps’ over the years, Mr Fawcett had been a ‘loyal and faithful servant’ to the prince and had played a crucial role in his philanthropic efforts. Pictured: Mr Fawcett and the Prince of Wales, Lord Thurso on a 2019 tour
In 2016, Charles was awarded an honorary CBE to Mahfouz Marei Mubarak, a billionaire from Saudi Arabia.
‘This really is the earliest he has felt able to make any sort of decision about his future.’
The friend said the pressure of the scandal had had a ‘shattering effect’ on Mr Fawcett’s health. ‘Michael isn’t a well man – he has lost lots of weight and has shrunken into himself. No one is seeking sympathy, it’s a fact. This has broken him.
‘He has made this decision because he needs time to get through this crisis. And he wants more than anything to be left alone while he goes through this difficult time.’
Mr Fawcett’s departure will be seen by his enemies – who viewed him as a pernicious influence on the royal household – as long overdue. And it will certainly provide the Prince of Wales with a ‘clean sheet’ when he becomes king.
There was some concern that Mr Fawcett would be made Master of the Household at Buckingham Palace.
According to some, the Duchess is not upset by him seeing his back. Although she was once supportive of Mr Fawcett, now she feels that her husband has the ability to start a new chapter.
The Prince of Wales is said to have been told about Mr Fawcett’s decision, which will be made public by officials today. He feels ‘sadness’ about the way things have ended, but accepts it.
As well as The Prince’s Foundation, Scotland’s charity regulator is also investigating the claims against Mr Fawcett.
A Clarence House spokesman said previously: ‘The Prince of Wales fully supports the investigation now under way at the foundation.’
Prince Charles feels this is a terrible loss. This time, there’s no return. Michael Fawcett twice had to step down from the royal service…and twice was rehired. What’s the reason? His presence was “indispensable”. RICHARD KAY: Not anymore
Richard Kay, The Daily Mail
This time there will be no reprieve, no last-minute appeal for clemency and most certainly no gathering of land-owning grandees offering to make a special plea for his salvation.
The man who came from nothing is now back in his place, for the first time since 40 years.
Two parts of the story about Michael Fawcett’s rise and fall is tragic.
For Fawcett it is about being raised to a status that was unimaginable when he first arrived at Buckingham Palace as a lowly footman – and then flying too high.
For the Prince of Wales it is about losing the one man whose service and loyalty he prized above all others, and of whom he once said: ‘I can manage without just about anyone except for Michael.’
Eighteen years ago, when Fawcett’s name was linked to unsavoury allegations concerning the disposal of royal gifts, a report exonerated him of wrongdoing. Fawcett was still made the victim, but through a clever piece of royal maneuvering, he not only survived, but also prospered. Just as he had five years earlier when rival staff, tired of his bullying and overbearing manner, plotted to oust him – only for well-connected royal friends to come racing to his rescue.
In 2018, Camilla, Prince of Wales and Mr Fawcett are shown together. The Daily Mail’s revelation that the prince has accepted the resignation of the man who had been with him through thick and thin – and once seemed unsackable – is tinged not with triumph but sadness and sorrow
This time, however, his claims were far more grave. Mired in allegations that he had helped secure honours and British citizenship for a wealthy Saudi tycoon who had bankrolled Charles’s charities, it has been a question of not if Fawcett would depart, but when.
The Daily Mail’s revelation that the prince has accepted the resignation of the man who had been with him through thick and thin – and once seemed unsackable – is tinged not with triumph but sadness and sorrow.
Technically, the high-flyer whose life began in a modest bungalow resigned from the Prince’s Foundation, of which he was chief executive. Prince Charles’ approval would have allowed him to leave.
After the dust has settled, this time there will not be any cosy returns. For the man with the spit-and-polished tasselled loafers, Turnbull & Asser shirts and hand-tailored suits – a style epitomised by the prince he served with such devotion – is severing every royal connection.
Fawcett has given up his position at Dumfries House. This was the Scottish treasure Charles saved and Fawcett overseen it with an eye for detail.
And perhaps most significantly of all, Fawcett’s private company Premier Mode, the events business he established after a previous ‘sacking’, has severed its links with Clarence House.
Technically, the high-flyer whose life began in a modest bungalow resigned from the Prince’s Foundation, of which he was chief executive. Prince Charles would have approved his resignation, but he wouldn’t have authorized it. Pictured: Mr Fawcett, his wife Debbie
Fawcett and his wife Debbie are now at the end of their royal road. She too was a symbol of selfless service, having completed her final task this week – purchasing the presents on the prince’s Christmas list.
As brutal as only a Palace coup can be, Fawcett’s departure represents the most significant transition for Charles from Prince of Wales to king-in–waiting.
Courtiers who have long viewed Fawcett as a negative presence in the prince’s life are understood to view his leaving as a vital and necessary step.
Not so long ago, Fawcett was being talked of as a future Master of the Household under King Charles – a position of considerable influence.
Talk was also being made about a knighthood for the son, a cashier and district nurse from suburban Bexley in Kent. He repeatedly bounced back because of the seemingly unbreakable bond between the master and his ‘indispensable’ servant, forged in the acrimony of the royal marriage break-up. This time, however, he was not defeated.
Fawcett could have easily escaped the uproar about cash access. The prince was close to the throne and the poisonous stench of wrongdoing became too much.
It was clear that the time had come when the Duchess de Cornwall pulled her support from him instead of supporting him as she did in the past. This moment was pivotal in the subsequent fallout of the scandal.
Years ago, first in 1998 and later in 2003, it was the then Mrs Parker Bowles who was the most vociferous of Fawcett’s defenders. But two months ago it was revealed that Fawcett, who was appointed head of The Prince’s Foundation in 2018, had helped to fix a CBE for a Saudi tycoon who donated £1.5million to royal charities.
Charles accepted also a 6-figure donation by a Russian businessman. Charles then thanked him and offered to meet.
In a third incident he is reported to have offered to help secure a knighthood – and British citizenship – for another foreign donor.
It was clear that the time had come when the Duchess de Cornwall pulled her support from him, rather than backing him in the past. It was an important moment in the aftermath of the scandal. Photo of Prince Charles, Diana, and Mr Fawcett, 1990
These revelations shed light on the dark world of royal favours and backscratching.
Fawcett stood down from his £90,000-a-year role while an independent inquiry investigated.
I understand that he has not had sight of the inquiry’s report – which has not yet been completed in any case – but yesterday’s dramatic move indicates that Fawcett fears its findings will be damning.
It is clear that his mental and physical health have suffered from the aftermath of the revelations.
One friend has witnessed the father of two who was married to a Palace maid and has said that he’s lost five stone. He tells me: ‘Michael has always been an incredibly positive and confident fellow but he is causing concern.
‘He has been receiving professional help and he is heartbroken at the turn of events.’
Another insider says: ‘Michael has given the prince the ultimate gift – his resignation, thus avoiding any unpleasantness later on.’
Their bond of trust goes back over four decades.
Fawcett has been an unwavering constant in the prince’s life – as ‘non-negotiable as Camilla used to be’, observes a Palace aide – while others in his household, some far more senior, have come and gone. ‘No one understood the prince’s moods and eccentricities quite like Michael – and no one had his skill in dealing with them,’ says an old friend.
‘We are not just talking about his petty foibles, how he likes his napkins folded or just how little vermouth should go in to his dry martini… Michael has trained others to do that. It’s that he gets his sensibilities and understands him aesthetically, philosophically and commercially. They are powerful assets and it is easy to see why the prince is so reliant on him.’
Using the same silky skills he once used to sell off unwanted royal gifts from foreign dignitaries on the prince’s behalf (a practice which led to him being nicknamed ‘Fawcett the fence’), he was the vital link between the prince and wealthy donors
Certainly there was no clearer indication of that dependence than when Charles put Fawcett – the man who squeezed his toothpaste for him after he broke his arm playing polo in 1990 – in charge of his beloved Dumfries House, the Palladian mansion which he saved for the nation.
This costly restoration was a labor of love by the Prince, who made a bet on raising the funds to do it.
Fawcett’s role in turning the historic Scottish house into a busy venue for weddings and conferences, while employing as many local people as possible, was crucial. He was always there, three to four times a week, from the very beginning. ‘It was the next best thing to having the Prince of Wales do the job himself,’ one figure from those days recalled.
Using the same silky skills he once used to sell off unwanted royal gifts from foreign dignitaries on the prince’s behalf (a practice which led to him being nicknamed ‘Fawcett the fence’), he was the vital link between the prince and wealthy donors.
He was an ordinary man with humble beginnings, but he managed to make the wealthy and powerful feel like they had the best of everything.
They were grateful for the opportunity to open their pockets.
‘Michael was not just securing the money… he was also the impresario arranging all the extravagant events where the pampered guests would get out their chequebooks,’ says a former aide. ‘He’s persuasive in a very charming manner.’
This was how his seeds of destruction were also sown.
Image was crucial, hence those polished loafers, the silk pochette he wore in his breast pocket, and the way he liked to touch his shirt cuffs and stand with hands clasped behind his back – an affectation he copied from the prince.
His rise was remarkable for someone who used to work Saturdays in Jermyn Street’s menswear shop, where he had a habit of getting discounted clothes.
It is rare that any of the below-stairs keepers at Buckingham Palace remember Michael David Fawcett coming in 1981. He came straight out of catering college to start work as one of the Queen’s footmen, wearing a polyester pullover. These sweaters were later a Fawcett inn-joke. When a new police bodyguard arrived in the mid-1990s, he sniggered: ‘You’re a walking fire risk, dear.’
Former staff remember him as a ‘Billy Liar’ figure who embellished a modest background, claiming he was the son of a wealthy accountant. At one point he grandly styled himself ‘Buxton-Fawcett’ – Buxton was his mother’s maiden name – but fellow staff were unimpressed and took to addressing him as ‘Sir Michael.’
Taken under the patronage of the Queen Mother’s staff at Clarence House, he was a fast learner and rose to become sergeant footman. This gave him authority over the very people who had been mocking him – and also brought him to the notice of the Prince of Wales, who invited him to become his assistant valet.
Fawcett joined the newlyweds Charles, Diana and Diana as they set up their new home in Kensington Palace. Although he and Diana were only one-year apart, they quickly fell in love. As the royal marriage disintegrated, Fawcett was firmly on Charles’s team.
Diana altered the locks in her marital apartment when Charles and Diana separated in 1992.
In the years that followed, Fawcett’s influence grew and he was promoted from valet to personal assistant. He became increasingly bossy and was eventually reprimanded by other staff members. Fawcett resigned – only to be reinstated after Camilla intervened on his behalf.
Fawcett, who had been in office for five years before stepping down once again after an investigation revealed that he was violating regulations by selling and accepting gifts Charles did not wish. Crucially, the investigation cleared him of any financial wrongdoing, and he was soon back at the prince’s side.
His emotional intelligence, attention to detail and ability to override everything if he thought it was in the prince’s interests endeared him to both Charles and Camilla… but even their patience has now been exhausted. ‘Michael became too high maintenance,’ says one courtier.
It is most likely that Prince Charles’s last parting with Princess Diana was the hardest. It may, however, ensure that – as king – his reign will not be tarnished by a man whose capacity for trouble was simply no longer worth his support.