Prince Andrew found himself on the verge of yet another controversy!
The Duke of York, who is no stranger to garnering negative media attention has hit with another setback amid Royal Lodge feud with brother King Charles.
As reported by several outlets, a Chinese spy who had close ties with Andrew has been banned from the UK.
In an apparent breach of national security, Andrew reportedly appointed an alleged Chinese spy as his business adviser in exchange of connecting him to the heart of Royal Family.
As per the new report, in March 2021, Andrew invited the Chinese national to his birthday party and into the royal estate at Windsor, where the alleged spy was authorised to act on Duke's behalf to seek investors in China.
Details about the suspected spying emerged on Thursday after a court upheld the decision to ban a businessman from entering the UK due to national security concerns.
During a hearing, it was revealed that in 2021, border officials downloaded data from the businessman’s phone under counterterrorism laws.
Meanwhile, a letter from Dominic Hampshire, an adviser to Prince Andrew, dated March 2021 was also obtained, which mentioned the businessman being invited to the duke’s birthday party that same month.
“I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal and indeed his family. You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship … outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.”
The letter further included that after a meeting with Andrew, they had “wisely navigated our way around former private secretaries and we have found a way to carefully remove those people who we don’t completely trust. Under your guidance, we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor.”
Meanwhile, another letter from Andrew's adviser, dated October 2022, revealed that the Chinese official was given the authority to act on behalf of the duke to seek potential investors in China.
During Thursday's hearing a judge Charles Bourne that the business “won a significant degree, one could say an unusual degree, of trust from a senior member of the royal family who was prepared to enter into business activities with him”.
“That occurred in a context where, as the contemporaneous documents record, the duke was under considerable pressure and could be expected to value the applicant’s loyal support," added the judge.
He further admitted that “It is obvious that the pressures on the duke could make him vulnerable to the misuse of that sort of influence.”
This update comes a few days after reports emerged that Prince Andrew possesses enough resources to continue his residence in the Royal estate, which he was asked to evict earlier this year.
It is pertinent to note, Prince Andrew was stripped of his Royal titles after his Newsight interview in 2019, in which he candidly admitted having close bond with huge sex offender and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
