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The inquiry by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has confirmed for the first time that it is investigating Brownlow’s decision to buy up unwanted properties at Knockroon. “We can confirm that the work of Havisham Group [Brownlow’s company] and property transactions relating to the Knockroon development in Ayrshire forms part of our overall investigation, work on which is ongoing,” a spokesman said.
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They pose fresh questions of the prince’s judgment. Charles had welcomed Brownlow into his circle of trust even after an adviser expressed reservations about his motivations. “Brownlow was very influential, but it was felt that he was not an entirely benign influence on the prince,” a palace insider said. Of Brownlow, who was a trustee, donor and commercial partner of the charity at once, the source said: “He had myriad conflicts of interest. His judgment was wayward. This certainly came up in conversation with the prince.”
According to the royal source, Charles was expressly told that Brownlow seemed more interested in the “psychic reward” of being close to the prince and being invited to dinners at Dumfries House. “I think it just sort of gave him a kick that he could talk to his friends and say, I just had another dinner with the Prince of Wales. I mean, I think more about that [than money], to be honest,” the source said.
Charles first became involved with Brownlow through his Foundation for Integrated Health, a controversial body that championed alternative medicine and lobbied for pseudoscientific treatments to be made available on the NHS. Brownlow chaired the body briefly but it was closed after the conviction of an official for stealing from the organisation in 2010. A year later he was invited to the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton and received a prime seat at Westminster Abbey.
Brownlow is not the first Dumfries House donor to get an honour from Charles during a private event at the Queen’s home. Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, a Saudi billionaire, who had given £1.5 million to Charles’s causes including the estate, was*appointed CBE. That honour is the subject of a Metropolitan Police investigation under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.
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Hiring a new communications secretary seems a smart decision. Now that the Queen's Jubilee is over The Times and others appear to be throwing considerable shade on Prince Charles. Essentially digging up dirt... from the past.
