PRINCE CHARLES is estimated to be worth a mere £320m without ever having to do a tap to earn such a royal living. The Duchy of Cornwall is an archaic private estate which entitles Charles to an income in his role as the Duke of Cornwall. This entitles Prince Charles to grab all the money and property from those who die intestate in Cornwall. He is not just next in line to the throne; he is also next in line for all intestate money and property in Cornwall.
The Royal Washing Machine
He uses his ill gotten gains as he chooses to fund his own charities and to support bursaries at his old private school in Scotland. Last year alone he grabbed more than £450,000 while sitting on £3.3m in cash from many years of grabbing Cornish legacies. Prince Charles, the long suffering heir to the British throne with an insatiable lust for money, accepted a £1 million (1.21 million euro) donation to his charitable trust from the family Osama bin Laden proving there is no such thing as dirty money when laundered through the busy royal washing machine.
An Offer One Can’t Refuse
Of course there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the Bin Laden family. The revelation however puts a spotlight on, and increases scrutiny on Charlie’s charity organisations. They have finally been rocked by allegations of criminal wrongdoing. Advisers urged Charles not to take the Bin Laden money but he couldn’t resist the tempting offer. Charlie agreed to accept the donation to the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund in a meeting in 2013 with Bakr bin Laden held at Clarence House in London despite strong objections from advisers of the trust and his own office. Ian Cheshire, the PWCF chairman claimed that at the time the donation was agreed by the five trustees. Would they have in any likelihood decided anything contrary to Charles wishes?
Police Investigation
British police in February of this year launched an investigation into yet another of Charlie’s charitable foundations concerning claims of a cash-for-honours scandal involving a Saudi businessman. No, it was not Mohamed Al-Fayed who is Egyptian and whose son Dodi was in a romantic relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales and the ex wife of Charles.
Last year the head of the Prince’s Foundation became the fall guy for Charles and resigned following an internal investigation into these allegations. Michael Fawcett, the foundation head had agreed initially to the suspension of his duties following newspaper exposure of his connections with a Saudi national. The man in question was one Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz who donated large sums of money for Charlie’s pet restoration projects. Fawcett was allegedly involved in coordinating efforts for Mahfouz to in turn be granted a royal honour and UK citizenship. Mahfouz has of course reportedly denies any wrongdoing on his part.
Charities Commission Investigation
The Charities Commission, the body that registers and oversees charities in England and Wales last November opened a formal investigation into donations received from Mahfouz that were intended for the prince’s foundation. The Prince’s Foundation which was set up in 1986 is not of course regulated by this Charities Commission but is instead registered with the Scottish Charity Regulator. In September last the Scottish Charity Regulator launched its own investigation into reports of the foundation accepting cash from a Russian banker who had previously been convicted of money laundering. The royal washing machine was surely a safer bet but which of late has become somewhat overheated. Donors take note.
‘NOT SAFE’: TAVISTOCK SEX-CHANGE CLINIC FOR CHILDREN TO BE SHUT DOWN
The British health service, the NHS, has ordered that the Tavistock transgender clinic for children be shut down after a review found that it is “not safe’.
The clinic, which had become the subject of considerable controversy after claims that it was “unquestioning ” where children sought to change gender, was found “not a safe or viable long-term option” by an independent review earlier this year.
The review, led by Dr Hilary Cass, a consultant paediatrician, warned that medics in the Tavistock clinic felt “under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach” to gender identity, instead of adopting a process of clinic assessment with young people who might have expressed some form of gender dysphoria.
In 2020, the clinic was rated “inadequate” – with the UK’s health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, giving it the lowest rating possible.
The Inspectors said that “many of the young people waiting for or receiving a service were very vulnerable and at risk of self-harm. Despite this staff often did not assess the risks presented by young people and their families.”
In a high-profile case, a former patient, Keira Bell, brought Tavistock to the High Court saying that should have challenged her when she was a child over her desire to undergo a transition from female to male. She said she was prescribed puberty-blocking drugs at the age of 15 to stop the process of developing female sexual characteristics. After a period, her treatment led to her taking cross-sex hormones to promote the development of male characteristics, and she then underwent breast removal surgery at the age of 20.
At the time, Tavistock defended its actions, saying that children were capable of decision making, but they were criticised by another claimant in the case, who was the mother of an unnamed teenage autistic girl waiting for treatment.
“A child experiencing gender distress needs time and support – not to be set on a medical pathway they may later regret,” said the claimant, identified in news reports only as Mrs. A.
Tavistock came under fire for making decisions to give children as young as 10 puberty blockers. The NHS have said they will follow Dr Cass’s recommendation that they carry out “rapid” research on the effect of puberty blockers on young people, after she noted that there is currently “insufficient evidence” on their impact.
Dr Cass’s report said there was a lack of understanding in Tavistock about why the type of patients the clinic was seeing was changing, with more female to male patients and more autistic children. She also highlighted what she saw as inconclusive evidence to back some of the clinical decisions made in the sex-change centre.
The NHS now says the services will operate in eight regional centres, and that recommendations from the Cass review which state that “staff should maintain a broad clinical perspective in order to embed the care of children and young people with gender uncertainty within a broader child and adolescent health context’, will be followed.
“The ongoing work of Dr Cass’ review, alongside our experience in establishing the Early Adopter services, will help shape the development of the new model of care, national standards and a new national service specification against which regional services can be commissioned,” an NHS England spokesperson said.
“We will engage and consult fully on this service specification in due course.”
Tavistock had been assessing Irish child and adolescent patients for at least a decade, with a team from the English clinic visiting Crumlin hospital on a monthly basis until recently.