Prince Andrew ‘invited Chinese spy to Buckingham Palace twice – together with journeys to St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle’

A businessman accused of being a Chinese spy was invited to Buckingham Palace by Prince Andrew twice, according to reports.

The man, known only as H6, was banned from Britain by the Government on national security grounds.

But a recent legal ruling suggested that he was an ‘close confidant’ of Prince Andrew – and last night it emerged that the shamed Duke of York may have invited him to several Royal residences.

H6, it has been suggested, visited Buckingham Palace twice and also entered St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle – at the invitation of Prince Andrew, and may have known him for as long as a decade.

On Friday, the duke said he ‘ceased all contact’ with the businessman when concerns were first raised about him.

Andrew met the individual through ‘official channels’ with ‘nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed’, a statement from his office said.

The businessman brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then-home secretary Suella Braverman said he should be excluded from the UK in March 2023.

Several newspapers have reported that the King has been briefed about his brother’s links to the alleged spy.

But last night The Times reported H6 visited Buckingham Palace twice, as well as Windsor Castle and St James Palace.

And he also attended the Duke’s 60th birthday party in 2020 at Royal Lodge within Windsor Great Park.

Legal papers show MI5 considered the businessman a ‘risk to UK national securoty’, while subsequent reports suggest the intelligence agency is investigating Chinese money given to Andrew’s business ventures. 

The Telegraph reported the donors may have links to the alleged spy. 

Ms Braverman has called for the man – known only as H6 – to lose his anonymity, the Telegraph has reported, as a ‘deterrent to others taking part in similar activities’.

Judges were told that in July 2023, officials claimed H6 had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials ‘that could be leveraged for political interference purposes’.

He was believed by UK authorities to be associated with the United Front Work Department (UFWD), an arm of the Chinese Communist Party tasked with conducting influence operations. 

H6 subsequently denied receiving any instructions from the UFWD – but intelligence briefings suggest that those in positions like his could be ‘expected to understand UFWD and CCP objectives… without being tasked’. 

They also said H6 had downplayed his relationship with the Chinese state, which combined with his relationship with Andrew, 64, represented a threat to national security.

At a hearing in July, the specialist tribunal heard the businessman was told by an adviser to Andrew that he could act on the duke’s behalf when dealing with potential investors in China, and that H6 had been invited to Andrew’s birthday party in 2020.

A letter referencing the birthday party from the adviser, Dominic Hampshire, was discovered on H6’s devices when he was stopped at a port in November 2021.

In a ruling on Thursday, Mr Justice Bourne, Judge Stephen Smith and Sir Stewart Eldon, dismissed the challenge.

They suggested in their written judgement that Andrew could have been ‘vulnerable’ and needing additional support at the peak of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

‘(H6) won a significant degree, one could say an unusual degree, of trust from a senior member of the Royal Family who was prepared to enter into business activities with him,’ the ruling said. 

‘That occurred in a context where, as the contemporaneous documents record, the Duke was under considerable pressure and could be expected to value (H6’s) loyal support.

‘It is obvious that the pressures on the Duke could make him vulnerable to the misuse of that sort of influence.’

The Home Secretary said today the government would ‘always stand ready to take action’ around ‘any kind of challenge or threat’ to UK national security.

Speaking to Sky News from Italy, Yvette Cooper said: ‘Our security and intelligence agencies are continually vigilant for any threat to UK national security, whether that be around foreign influence, whether it be around espionage, whether it be around any security threat.

‘We won’t hesitate to take action in individual cases or more widely wherever any challenge arises.’

Asked whether the anonymity of a spy-accused Chinese businessman known as H6 should be lifted, Ms Cooper said: ‘We always respect the decisions of the courts and also don’t comment on individual cases.’

It comes after the royal family reportedly took further steps over the summer to distance themselves from the disgraced duke, with the King said to have axed his £1 million annual ‘living allowance’ and security privately funded for Andrew’s home.

Professor Rana Mitter, ST Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School and an expert in Chinese politics, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that part of Chinese spying strategy is to look for people who might be ‘influential over time’ but are ‘in a bit of a doldrums’.

He said the situation involving the Duke of York and H6 is ‘not so much about spying in the sense of trying to find out secrets, it’s about trying to influence’.

‘Getting to know the elites of countries like Britain is a useful task not for immediate knowledge but maybe for long term development of links in society. It seems that’s what has been going on here,’ Prof Mitter said.

‘One of the things that quite often will happen is looking out for who may be influential over time, but perhaps is in a bit of a down spot, a bit of a doldrums.

‘One of the best examples from a generation ago would have been President Richard Nixon, after he had to resign in disgrace over Watergate he was frequently invited to China.’

Andrew Lownie, who is writing a biography of the Duke and Sarah, Duchess of York, said the latest revelations involving the King’s younger brother would impact the wider family and the ‘future of the monarchy’, as he called for greater transparency around the the royals’ finances.

He said: ‘The real scandals surrounding him are financial more than sexual.

‘Given he cannot police his own activities and understand where the moral boundaries lie, it is time for proper scrutiny of his finances and a public register of royal interests.

‘Judging from online comments to newspaper articles, this episode is highly damaging for the whole of the royal family whose finances and business activities should now be more transparent.

‘Time, too, for the exemption for them in the Freedom of Information Act be removed and their wills not sealed.

‘After recent scandals, I think this is a very serious moment for the future of the monarchy.’

The Palace has previously declined to comment, saying they do not act for the prince, who is not a working royal.

Buckingham Palace and the Duke of York’s office have been approached for comment.