Prince Charles has come under fire yet again, just one month after he was heavily criticized for reportedly accepting a cash sum of almost $3 million from Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, the former Prime Minister of Qatar. This time, the Prince of Wales, 73, has come under scrutiny following the recently-published reports that he accepted a donation for his charity from two of Osama bin Laden’s family members.
According to reports, the donation came from the former Al-Qaeda leader’s half-brothers Bakr bin Laden and Shafiq bin Laden in 2013 – two years after he was killed by U.S. special forces in Pakistan – following a meeting between the Prince of Wales and Bakr at Clarence House. The former Al-Qaeda leader’s family publicly disowned him in 1994, and reports claim that there is no suggestion that his half-brothers had any known ties to terrorism; but the palace still reportedly took some time to decide whether or not to accept the donation for The Prince of Wales’ Charitable Foundation, otherwise known as the PWCF.
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"The donation from Sheik Bakr Bin Laden in 2013 was carefully considered by PWCF Trustees at the time," Sir Ian Cheshire, chair of the Prince of Wales Charitable Foundation, told People. "Due diligence was conducted, with information sought from a wide range of sources, including government. The decision to accept the donation was taken wholly by the Trustees. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is misleading and inaccurate."
Cheshire's comments about the suggestion that Prince Charles accepted the donation despite being advised not to was referenced in an article in the Sunday Times, which also suggests that a royal source claimed the future King refused recommendations from certain staffers to return the money after it had been donated. However, Prince Charles' office at Clarence House disputed this, reiterating the previous statement and once again insisting that "thorough due diligence was undertaken in accepting this donation." "The decision to accept was taken by the charity's Trustees alone and any attempt to characterize it otherwise is false," the statement added.
