Members of the royal family regularly meet wealthy donors who support their charities. But in June 2022, The Sunday Times published a story about one such relationship that caused a storm.
According to the newspaper, between 2011 and 2015, Prince Charles accepted around three million euros in cash from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, a former prime minister of Qatar.
The report included striking details. On one occasion, it said, a million euros was handed over in a suitcase during a private meeting at Clarence House. On another, cash was reportedly delivered in carrier bags from a famous London department store.
There was no suggestion in the report that the payments were illegal. Clarence House said the donations had been passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities, the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, and that all the correct processes had been followed.
But many people were uncomfortable. Critics asked why a member of the royal family would accept such large sums in cash at all, rather than by bank transfer, and whether it was appropriate for the heir to the throne to handle money personally.
The story was one of several in 2021 and 2022 that raised questions about donations to Charles’s charities. In a separate case, a senior aide stepped down after allegations about offers of honours to a wealthy donor. Charles said he had no knowledge of any such offers.
After the Qatari cash story was published, the Charity Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales, reviewed the information. In July 2022, it said it would not open an investigation.
For Charles’s supporters, that settled the matter: the money had gone to good causes, and no rules had been broken. For his critics, the image of a future king receiving cash in a suitcase was hard to forget.
Months later, in September 2022, Charles became King. The story remains a reminder of how closely the public watches the relationship between royalty, wealth and charity.