Charles drawn into Andrew spy scandal, papers reveal

The Duke of York and his former adviser twice went to Windsor without being seen” to talk to the King about an investment fund linked to an alleged Chinese spy, according to newly released tribunal documents.

- JESS GLASS

Yang Tengbo, who has previously said he had “done nothing wrong or unlawful”, was excluded from the UK on national security grounds in March 2023 after officials claimed he had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials “that could be leveraged for political interference purposes”.

Mr Yang – also known as Chris Yang – unsuccessfully challenged the decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) last year, with judges finding the businessman was a “close confidant” of Andrew and had “won a significant degree, one could say an unusual degree, of trust” from the duke.

Documents in the legal challenge, including the witness statement of Andrew’s former senior adviser Dominic Hampshire, were made public yesterday following a request from several media organisations.

Buckingham Palace said that while the King met Andrew and his adviser to discuss proposals for independent funding, Mr Yang “was not mentioned at any time or in any way as part of these discussions”.

In Mr Hampshire’s 10-page statement, dated May 2024, the former aide told SIAC that he had met twice with Andrew and the King in the previous six months to discuss “what the duke can do moving forwards in a way that is acceptable to His Majesty”.

The former aide said both of these discussions covered topics including the Eurasia Fund, which Mr Yang described in his written evidence to the tribunal as a way to “upgrade” the duke’s Pitch@Palace initiative “into an investment-type business, or a fund”

Mr Hampshire continued: “For both these meetings with His Majesty, despite less media interest in the duke, we took all precautions to get in and out of Windsor Castle without being seen.”