Prince Charles is facing allegations that he lords over a “cash-for-honours” racket. I am not surprised. After all, I’ve been denouncing the British royal family as royal grifters for decades.
Hell, I even denounced them in “Dissing British Monarchy to Mourn American Democracy,” November 6, 2020. Such is my abiding contempt.
Prince Charles bagging cash
But Charles always seemed above the grift. His eccentricities and fastidiousness gave him an aura of decency and honesty. But his devoted bag man disabused everyone of that impression a few months ago. Here is what the Express reported on November 12, 2021:
The right-hand man of the Prince of Wales quit earlier this week over the ‘cash for honours’ inquiry, a scandal that broke in September. It comes following reports that Michael had offered to help a billionaire Saudi donor of the Prince’s charity to secure [a] knighthood and British citizenship. …
Yes, when they got caught, Charles threw him under the bus. It was a close call, but Charles escaped that scandal unscathed. Now come reports about him working as his own bag man. And Charles makes the disgraced manservant he fired look like a choir boy. Here is what the Times reported on Sunday:
The Prince of Wales accepted a suitcase containing €1 million in cash from a controversial Qatari politician. … It was one of three lots of cash, totalling €3 million. …
On one occasion, Sheikh Hamad, 62, presented the prince with €1 million, which was reportedly stuffed into carrier bags from Fortnum & Mason, the luxury department store that has a royal charter to provide the prince’s groceries and tea.
UK Police investigating Prince Charles
Except that Charles might have been following royal protocol. You know, the one that requires royals to accept charitable donations in bags of cash. That is, so long as those bags are Fortnum & Mason’s. That alone explains why Charles was doing business in this pedestrian fashion.
Even so, it looks incriminating. After all, Charles got caught holding the bags himself.
Family of royal grifters
British royals have been trading on their royal ties for years. And UK tabloids have caught many of them doing so.
Reports about Duchess Fergie’s grubby capers might come immediately to mind. But even the sensible and serene Countess Sophie grifted. She got caught red-handed doing shady deals with a fake Arab sheik. And Prince Andrew, well, enough said.
Now it turns out Charles is the biggest grifter of them all. Given my abiding contempt, I hope this leads to scales falling from people’s eyes. Mind you, that grifting has been plain for all to see for decades. Because “cash for honours,” is no different from “cash for favours.” Both have always been, and no doubt will remain, royalty’s dirty little secret.
Royalty has always been little more than a glorified racket. Nobody knows this better than Russian oligarchs and Arab sheiks. That is why everyone will cover up and carry on despite all the talk of investigations.