ERRORS OF JUDGEMENT: The Strange Friends and Acquaintances of the UK Royal Family

The news was hard to miss: the (s)ex-prince Andrew was arrested and questioned for 11 hours! At the heart of this story is, of couse, Andrew’s friendship with Epstein. While the royal family and their PR-teams are frantically busy in ‘damage limitation’, it might be worth remembering that Epstein was by no means their only ill-judged friendship. In fact, the list of individuals who were once close to the royal family – people they might now prefer us to forget about – is uncomfortably long. Here is a (probably incomplete) list in alphabetical order.

Bishop Peter Ball

Peter Ball, once a popular Anglican bishop, was later convicted of sexually abusing 18 young men. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) revealed that Charles maintained a friendly correspondence with Ball even after Ball accepted a police caution in 1993. Charles, the then-Prince of Wales, told a subsequent inquiry that he had been “deceived” into believing the allegations were minor “indiscretions.” However, critics point to letters in which Charles referred to Ball’s accuser as a “ghastly man.”

Bin Laden Family

In 2022, The Sunday Times revealed that Charles had accepted a £1 million donation for his charitable fund from Bakr and Shafiq bin Laden, half-brothers of Osama bin Laden. The meeting took place in 2013 at Clarence House. Although the bin Laden family had disowned Osama decades earlier, the optics of the heir to the throne accepting money associated with that name were widely criticized. Clarence House said that all due diligence had been carried out and that the funds were used entirely for charitable purposes.

Jeffrey Epstein

Ex-prince Andrew’s close friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein remains the most damaging of all the recent scandals for the monarchy. Introduced in 1999 by Ghislaine Maxwell, the two men stayed in contact even after Epstein’s 2008 conviction. Epstein used his royal ties to project an image of respectability, while Andrew relied on him for social and business connections in the US.

According to Andrew, the friendship ended after Epstein’s 2019 arrest. The fallout continues to be immense even afrer Epstein’s death. Andrew’s disastrous Newsnight interview that same year exposed both his arrogance and lack of empathy for victims. In 2022, he was stripped of his military affiliations and the use of his “HRH” style, effectively reduced to private life as Andrew, Duke of York. More recently, Andrew lost the rest of his privileges and is now even under investigation for passing trade secrets to Epstein.

Gary Goldsmith

Gary Goldsmith, the Princess of Wales’s maternal uncle, has often proved a public relations headache for both the Middleton and Windsor families. Convicted in 2017 for assaulting his wife, Goldsmith has repeatedly courted media attention about his royal connections. His appearance on Celebrity Big Brother in 2024, where he discussed his royal ties, was widely seen as indiscreet and damaging to the Palace’s preference for privacy.

Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz

Saudi businessman Mahfouz bin Mahfouz was at the centre of the 2021 “cash-for-honours” controversy involving the then-Prince of Wales’s charitable foundation. Mahfouz donated more than £1.5 million to royal charities, including the restoration of Dumfries House. It was alleged that Charles’s aide Michael Fawcett offered to help secure a knighthood and British citizenship in return. The Metropolitan Police investigated but brought no charges; Fawcett resigned from his post as the foundation’s chief executive.

Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (HBJ)

Between 2011 and 2015, Hamad bin Jassim, the former Prime Minister of Qatar, handed over €3 million in cash to the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund – reportedly in suitcases and Fortnum & Mason carrier bags. Though officials confirmed the money was immediately deposited and properly accounted for, the secretive nature of the exchanges sparked outrage and plenty of ridicule.

Tarek Obaid

Saudi businessman Tarek Obaid, co-founder of PetroSaudi, was implicated in the 1MDB corruption scandal, one of the largest financial fraud cases in history. Prince Andrew reportedly facilitated business introductions for Obaid while serving as the UK’s Special Representative for Trade and Investment (2001–2011). After details of the 1MDB scandal became public, Andrew’s involvement raised questions about the level of scrutiny applied to his overseas associations.

Jimmy Savile

Jimmy Savile’s connection with the Royal Family began in the late 1960s and expanded throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Far from being a casual acquaintance, Savile became a confidant and informal adviser to Charles who often consulted him on public relations, social issues, and even institutional management. Between 1986 and 1989, he reportedly shared draft speeches with Savile and sought his input on how to respond to crises. Savile was a frequent guest at royal residences and spent several Christmases at Sandringham. His 1990 knighthood, awarded for charitable fundraising, further entrenched his elite status. After his death in 2011, revelations about his serial sexual abuse of children led to intense public scrutiny of his royal access and prompted the Palace to overhaul its vetting process for celebrity advisers (see also my previous post on this subject).

Yang Tengbo (Chris Yang)

Yang Tengbo, also known as Chris Yang, was a businessman and director of the Hampton Group who played a key role in Prince Andrew’s “Pitch@Palace” enterprise initiative, particularly in China. He was treated as a close associate and attended Andrew’s 60th birthday celebration at Royal Lodge in 2020. In 2023, the Home Office barred Yang from entering the UK, citing evidence that he had engaged in “covert influence activity” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. Prince Andrew’s office stated he had severed contact with Yang following official advice.

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Will the frantic ‘damage limitation’ operation of the ‘firm’ be enough to save the crown?

Watch this space.