Princess Beatrice snapped with alleged Chinese spy on Nepal journey
David Taylor and Princess Beatrice were part of a small group who travelled together on a nine-day charity engagement to Asia in October 2016
Princess Beatrice travelled to Nepal with David Taylor(Image: The i Paper)
A Labour MP’s husband arrested on suspicion of spying for China went to Nepal with Princess Beatrice.
David Taylor, married to East Kilbride and Strathaven’s Joani Reid, was arrested in London on Wednesday. It has since emerged the 39-year-old and the Princess went on a nine-day charity trip with several others in October 2016. There is no suggestion the royal knew of Taylor’s alleged activities.
The trip was organised by the Franks Family Foundation, a charity of which Beatrice is a patron. The seven-strong group travelled by car through Asia and saw the work of Dr Sandek Ruit, a Nepalese eye surgeon who treats patients for free. The Princess also held a private meeting with the Bhutanese Royal Family.
Confirming the trip, Franks told The i Paper: “Princess Beatrice has worked tirelessly for the foundation for over a decade, supporting our education and public health projects in Laos, Cambodia and Nepal, to which she has travelled on many occasions for the foundation.
“On one of those trips, Princess Beatrice accompanied a team of doctors across Nepal, India and Bhutan. David Taylor, who was a policy advisor for the foundation, was also on that trip.” He went on: “[Beatrice] did not know him prior and has not seen him since. During his time as a policy advisor to the foundation, I found David to be a kind, charitable and proud Brit. I am astonished by the arrest.”
In 2024, Beatrice’s father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was also mired in controversy over his links to alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo. Tengbo ran the then Duke of York’s Pitch@Palace scheme in China. He was banned from the UK after security services accused him of engaging in “covert and deceptive activity” for the Chinese Communist Party. Yang denied any wrongdoing.
Court documents later revealed details of Mr Yang’s dealings with the former prince and his plans for China-focused investment scheme the Eurasia fund. The documents – hidden until last year – detailed how Andrew’s ex-advisor Dominic Hampshire saw Yang Tengbo as Andrew’s “only light at the end of the tunnel” after his car crash Newsnight interview in 2019.
Last month, Mountbatten-Windsor was released under investigation after being arrested for misconduct in public office in connection with the Epstein files. He has consistently and strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
The latest arrests over alleged Chinese spying have rocked Westminster. On Wednesday, two other men – Steve Jones, 68, a former Welsh Government special adviser and Matthew Aplin, 43, a former Labour press officer – were also arrested under the National Security Act.
A Senedd source described Aplin as a “Labour man through and through” but claimed he recently quit the party to join Reform. Reform UK denied his membership, but the party’s Welsh leader Dan Thomas later confirmed he did hold membership.
Jones served as a special adviser to Hilary Armstrong – now Baroness Armstrong – the UK Government’s chief whip during Tony Blair’s premiership, then as an adviser to the Welsh Cabinet between 2009 and 2014, according to a profile of him on a company website.
All three men were released on bail on Thursday. Searches were carried out at the properties where the arrests were made, as well as at three other addresses in London, East Kilbride and Cardiff. Welsh journalist Martin Shipton said police also searched his home in Cardiff in connection with the probe. He said he gave a voluntary statement and was not arrested.
James Robinson, a former aide to ex-Labour deputy leader Tom Watson, also confirmed police have searched his home as part of the Chinese spying investigation. He said in a statement: “I would like to make it absolutely clear that I have neither been detained, arrested nor questioned in connection with this, or any other, matter.”
Reid was elected as MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven in 2024 and sits on the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee. She said she is temporarily and voluntarily standing down from Labour while an internal party inquiry takes place.
Taylor is the current head of programs at Asia House, a think-tank leading engagement between Asia and Europe. He previously worked as a special advisor to the Secretary of State for Wales in 2010 before spending two years as a senior political advisor for Labour.
In his role at Asia House, Taylor oversaw the secretariat for Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Central Asia – a group of MPs who aim to promote relations between the UK and Central Asian countries. On Wednesday, the APPG said it had suspended its secretariat. Publicly available corporate records show Taylor is the director of several businesses, including lobbying firm Earthcott Ltd.
In a statement following the arrests, Reid said: “I have never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law. I have never been to China. I have never spoken on China or China related matters in the Commons. I have never asked a question on China-related matters.”
Security minister Dan Jarvis confirmed the arrests on Wednesday and said the Government would “not tolerate” attempts by Beijing to “obtain information on UK policymaking and interfere with our sovereign affairs”.
