Prince Charles, Harry and their relationship have been ‘barely spoke’ over the past months due to relations at ‘an all time low’ after the Duke Of Sussex repeated jabs at the Royal family.
After Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interviews and multiple statements following their exit from public service, the heir to power has been left “deeply shocked” and “hurt”.
Tensions escalated further on Sunday when Harry said he had ‘severed ties’ with Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz a year before Prince Charles presented the controversial Saudi billionaire with a CBE.
According to sources, Prince Charles was ‘keeping an elevated silence’ in fear of a public split.
Harry’s relationship with his father soured following the tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey in March. The duke said his father had cut him off financially when he and Meghan announced plans to move to America and there was ‘a lot of hurt’.
Eight months ago, the father and son spoke last in person at Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral. Since then they have only exchanged a handful of ‘fraught’ calls.
Prince Charles was ‘deeply stunned and hurt’ after Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interviews and the repeated statements they made following their resignation from public duty. Photo of Charles and Meghan with Harry, 2018.
While Prince Harry visited London to unveiled the Diana statue in July, he and his son were not able to meet. The future king also hasn’t yet seen Lilibet, six months old.
Prince Harry made repeated jabs at his dad, telling a podcast that he came to America to “break the cycle” of pain from childhood.
He said that his father treated him the same way as he treated his son.
Harry claimed that he severed ties with Mahfouz on Sunday because of his ‘concerns’ over Mahfouz’s businessman’s motivations. The comments were made after it emerged that Mr Mahfouz had been in a private conversation with Harry. He has contributed tens and thousands of pounds to charity organizations associated with the duke.
The Prince of Wales’ friend said that Harry was deeply disappointed in Harry’s recent statement, which effectively put his father under the bus.
Prince Harry made frequent jibes about his father. He said in a podcast that he came to America to “break the pain cycle” from childhood. Pictured: The Royals and the Commonwealth Service at their annual Commonwealth Service, March 2020
While Prince Harry visited London to unveiled the Diana statue in July, he and his son were not able to meet. The future king also hasn’t yet seen Lilibet, six months old. This picture was taken May 2018,
This attack was even more devastating than Charles’s attack on his parenting skills. It was a challenge in the manner he manages his business, which will be far more detrimental to the future King.
‘Attempts have been made to clear the air but they have barely spoken since the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.’
According to the friend, Prince Charles is a father figure and won’t be hurt.
Mr Mahfouz is embroiled in claims that he showered money on charitable causes close to the Prince of Wales in the hope of obtaining an honour and British citizenship.
Harry said that he became concerned about Mahfouz’s health in 2014. He ended their relationship after meeting him twice.
But in an extraordinary statement which could spark a family rift, Harry said he had no involvement in what he described as the ‘CBE scandal’, insisted he had concerns about the Saudi businessman’s ‘motives’ and claimed he ‘expressed his concerns’ about him.
The Duke of Sussex (left) said he had ‘severed ties’ with Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz (right) a year before Prince Charles presented the controversial Saudi billionaire with a CBE
In an extraordinary statement which could spark a family rift, Harry said he had no involvement in what he described as the ‘CBE scandal’, insisted he had concerns about the Saudi businessman’s ‘motives’
Prince Charles (left), was recently criticized for his relationships with Mr Mahfouz.
Charles has been engulfed by criticism in recent months owing to his relationship with Mr Mahfouz and the hundreds of thousands of pounds the billionaire donated to the royal’s pet projects via his charitable trust.
The prince’s senior aide Michael Fawcett was forced to resign as head of The Prince’s Foundation last month over his role in the scandal.
An independent investigation last week found Mr Fawcett had colluded with ‘fixers’ representing Mr Mahfouz who were trying to secure an honour in exchange for donations.
Mr Mahfouz is thought to have donated at least £1.5 million to royal charities.
The Duke of Sussex said that when he cut ties with Mr Mahfouz in 2015, he ‘expressed his concerns about the donor’. However, he did not specify to whom these concerns were expressed.
The following year, Charles presented the Saudi billionaire with an ‘honorary’ CBE in a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Mister Mahfouz and the Prince of Wales also met privately in Scotland, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The prince’s senior aide Michael Fawcett (pictured) was forced to resign as head of The Prince’s Foundation last month over his role in the scandal and was pictured on a shopping trip this weekend
Clarence House yesterday repeated that Charles had ‘no knowledge’ of the ‘cash for access’ allegations, but it did not comment on whether Harry raised concerns with him about Mr Mahfouz.
While the Metropolitan Police made some initial inquiries about Mr Fawcett’s whereabouts, a more thorough investigation was not launched.
Ex-Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who filed a criminal complaint about the matter three months ago, said: ‘The fact Harry dropped this guy should have been a red light for Charles, but clearly he ignored that and drove straight through.’
Royal commentator Peter Hunt added: ‘Prince Charles presented Mr Mahfouz with his CBE in 2016. What did Prince Harry say to him in 2015 about his worries?
‘Just one of the many questions the Metropolitan Police could ask father and son if they choose to investigate.’
Harry and Mr Mahfouz met for the first times in 2013, in a Chelsea pub owned by Mark Dyer.
They discussed the duke’s charity Sentebale, set up in 2006 to help people in Lesotho and Botswana affected by Aids, following his gap year in Africa.
The newspaper reported the pair met again at Clarence House the following year after Charles had also met Mr Mahfouz, where Harry allegedly joked: ‘Has father beaten me to it and got the money?’
In February 2013, Mr Mahfouz donated £50,000 to Sentebale. Later that year he gave £10,000 to Walking With The Wounded, another charity of which Harry was patron.
A spokesman for the duke said: ‘The duke had one planned meeting with this donor eight years ago, did not introduce him to any members of the Royal Family, and expressed his concerns about the donor.’
The Prince’s Foundation is being investigated by the Scottish charities regulator over claims it accepted a six-figure sum from a wealthy Russian donor which was later rejected by its ethics committee. An independent investigation into the ‘cash for access’ allegations commissioned by the foundation last week found ‘evidence of communication and co-ordination’ between Mr Fawcett and ‘fixers regarding honorary nominations for a donor between 2014-18’.
Sentebale said: ‘It is entirely normal and legitimate for patrons to meet potential donors, on whose support we depend. This includes the two donations received in 2013-14 from the Mahfouz Foundation – donations that we would not have accepted if we believed there was anything improper behind them.’
Harry throws his father under the bus
By Rebecca English
To say that the Prince of Wales’ relationship with his sons is complex is an understatement.
Both William and Harry have historically accused Charles of being a ‘laissez-faire’ father – one more preoccupied with weighty affairs of state and his considerable philanthropic legacy than bathtime, wrestling matches and bedtime stories.
It’s not entirely fair, of course. The reality when it comes to the Royal Family – as with any family – is always more complicated.
Like other royals, Charles was ‘deeply, deeply’ hurt at the manner of Harry and Meghan’s bitter exit from the family in 2020.
Still, as Harry and William’s relationship descended into acrimony, their father tried to remain a non-partisan figure – partly because Charles has always shied away from personal confrontation with his sons, but also because he genuinely wanted to retain a Swiss-like neutrality between them.
But, while disappointing, the statement from the prince’s Los Angeles-based spokesman effectively throwing his father ‘under a bus’ over the ‘cash for honours’ investigation did not come as much of a surprise. The comment, which was belatedly issued after a newspaper highlighted Harry’s own links with Saudi billionaire Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, was at pains to try to emphasise the younger prince’s own foresight. It glossed over Harry’s private meeting with Mahfouz in a close friend’s pub in Chelsea – and a subsequent encounter at Clarence House where he was said to have joked: ‘Has father beaten me to it and got the money?’
As there is a notion of collective accountability at Cabinet level so it is within the Royal Family. You should defend your position direct and to the point using all available means but not at any cost of your closest and most dearest.
Harry’s statement, however, was liberally sprinkled with digs at his father – the reference to ‘the CBE scandal’, for example. Then there was the suggestion that the younger prince and his advisers saw sense at the earliest possible opportunity, when Charles’ former senior aide Michael Fawcett – and presumably the Prince of Wales himself – did not.
As for the claim that Harry ‘expressed his concerns’ about the donor… well, to whom? Certainly no one within his father’s household has any recollection about this at all.
Indeed, I understand that Charles wasn’t even aware until this weekend that his son had met Mahfouz in a west London pub, let alone encouraged his charity to accept any money from him.
Harry might have been more concerned than his father about the Saudi billionaire if Harry had seen him at his London home that same day.
It was also no secret, subsequently, that Mahfouz had become a major donor to Charles’ charitable endeavours – he had a wood named after him at Dumfries House, the Scottish seat of his charitable empire, after all.
Contrary to claims in the BBC’s recent controversial documentary on royals and the media that the three royal households are all too quick ‘brief’ against each other, Clarence House was again maintaining a dignified silence last night.
But one loyal friend of the Prince of Wales felt obliged to ask: ‘If Harry indeed had such deep concern about this man and his “motives”, then why on earth did he not tell his charity, Sentebale, to just hand the £50,000 he had given them back?’