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This summer, there was a series of terrible stories about Prince Charles and his charitable foundations. His foundation promised knighthoods to various shady millionaires, and British citizenships and access to “future king” Charles in exchange for donations to the foundation. One of the worst stories involved Charles’ longtime aide Michael Fawcett, who went from a member of Charles’ personal staff to a key executive at the foundation, but only after repeated scandals and firings-and-rehirings. We also learned very recently that the Duchess of Cornwall apparently hates Fawcett and she wanted him out. Which led me to suspect that the summer of damaging cash-for-access stories were some internal beef within Charles and Camilla’s staffs and their joint household. In any case, Charles finally fired Fawcett, or allowed him to resign:
Michael Fawcett, the Prince of Wales’ right-hand man and top aide has dramatically resigned amid a ‘cash for honours’ inquiry. Fawcett stood down as chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation after questions were raised in the autumn about the awarding of a CBE to Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, a Saudi billionaire, in 2016.
It was alleged that Mahfouz had sent thousands of pounds to fixers with links to the Prince of Wales on assurances that he could receive the honour. Mahfouz denies any wrongdoing. Fawcett, who has worked with the Prince of Wales for four decades and who has been accused of offering to help secure a knighthood and British citizenship for Mahfouz, was said to be ‘heartbroken’ and ‘shattered’ by events.
Fawcett has also had his private contract to organise events for Charles, via his events company Premier Mode, severed. For context, Premier Mode was behind the organisation of Charles and Camilla’s wedding party in 2005. A spokesperson told the Times: ‘Michael Fawcett and Premier Mode will not be providing services to us in the future. We have all agreed to end these arrangements.’
[From Tatler]
To be clear, Fawcett merely stepped down from the foundation when the story came out months ago. He didn’t officially resign, it seems. A source close to Fawcett told the Mail: “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.” The Mail is also trying to make it sound like Charles is super-kingly because of this:
Prince Charles is ‘drawing a line under his past’ as he prepares to become King, a royal expert said today after his right-hand man Michael Fawcett dramatically quit over the ‘cash for honours’ inquiry.
And Peter Hunt, who was the BBC’s royal correspondent from 2003 to 2017, said today: ‘Palace officials will be keen to present this as Charles drawing a line under his past as he prepares for kingship. They’ll be less keen to talk about the size of the severance package given to the servant who once squeezed his master’s toothpaste. Palace officials will also be praying that there isn’t a police investigation into the allegations.’
And royal expert Roya Nikkhah told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: ‘Michael Fawcett really has been the Prince of Wales’s right-hand man for many decades now. He started as a footman at Buckingham Palace but Charles has had him as his key adviser for a very long time on everything. He has been so closely involved in overseeing every bit of the prince’s life for a lot of the prince’s life. He will be an enormous loss to the Prince of Wales.’
The Sunday Times royal correspondent added that Charles’s wife the Duchess of Cornwall may have influenced the decision for Mr Fawcett to leave, saying: ‘Camilla was concerned that Michael Fawcett’s ongoing presence in the household was detracting from the Prince’s work and damaging the Prince’s reputation. And the Duchess of Cornwall is steadfastly loyal to the Prince of Wales, as you would expect her to be, and my understanding was – and I’ve had no pushback – that she was keen to see him to go, and go he has.’
[From The Daily Mail]
Personally, I love Peter Hunt and he is one of the shadiest people doing royal commentary these days. Love that he’s talking about Fawcett’s golden parachute and how the police should likely get involved, all of which is true. Anyway, Camilla got her way, she ousted a problematic man who had Chuck’s ear and all it took was irreparable damage to Chuck’s reputation and foundation.
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