Police investigating misconduct allegations in opposition to Andrew request Mail on Sunday file ‘exhibiting how ex-Duke plugged enterprise pursuits of property tycoon and his son’

The police force investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office has requested a dossier of leaked documents from The Mail on Sunday.

Thames Valley Police last week formally asked this newspaper to provide a cache of files we obtained as part of an investigation into how Andrew plugged the business interests of property tycoon David Rowland and his son Jonathan when the ex-Duke was UK trade envoy.

Bombshell emails revealed that while on taxpayer-funded trade missions meant to promote UK business, Andrew was quietly plugging a private Luxembourg-based bank for the super-rich, owned by multimillionaire David and his family.

They also appeared to show he passed on a private Treasury briefing about the Icelandic financial crisis to the Rowlands and that his key aide, Amanda Thirsk, handed them a Foreign Office diplomatic cable intended only for Government officials.

A senior officer requested our documents after our front page exclusive on February 22 revealed that an email from the dossier showed King Charles was warned by a whistleblower in 2019 about Andrew’s business associations with the Rowlands.

It said: ‘HRH the Duke of York’s actions suggest that his Royal Highness considers his relationship with David Rowland more important than that of his family.’ 

The MoS last week informed Thames Valley Police that it is willing to assist the force’s ongoing investigation and that it is prepared to disclose documents it holds which may be relevant to the probe.

On Saturday night former Government minister Norman Baker, an expert in royal finances, said: ‘I welcome the contact that Thames Valley Police has made with The Mail on Sunday.

‘It seems the police, for the first time, are actually taking allegations against members of the Royal Family seriously.

‘This is also raising embarrassing questions for the King and others in the Royal Family about how much they knew and when.’

Andrew was arrested by officers from Thames Valley Police at his new home on the Sandringham estate on February 19 – his 66th birthday.

Released under investigation 11 hours after his arrest, he was photographed slumped in the backseat of a car as he was driven away from Aylsham police station in Norfolk.

It was the first time in almost 400 years that a senior member of the Royal Family has been detained. 

Officers searched both Wood Farm at Sandringham and Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park, where Andrew lived for more than 20 years.

Thames Valley Police this weekend declined to comment.

The offence of misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, although Andrew has not been charged.

Andrew and publicity-shy David Rowland have been friends since at least 2005. 

That year, the then prince unveiled a bronze statue of the financier in the grounds of Havilland Hall, the Rowlands’ sprawling estate in Guernsey.

In 2009, Andrew launched the Rowlands’ bank, Banque Havilland, in Luxembourg.

David once gave Sarah Ferguson £40,000 to help clear her debts and in 2017 paid off a £1.5million loan for Andrew.

Over a period of several years, Andrew repeatedly alerted the Rowlands to business opportunities arising from his work.

Andrew and David even secretly went into business together – until 2019 they owned a company called Inverness Asset Management, which was registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Banque Havilland had its licence withdrawn in 2024 by the European Central Bank, a decision it is appealing.

How he let tycoon pals join him on Azerbaijan trip to meet Blair… 

By Isabel Oakeshott 

The former Duke of York took his private banker friends on an official trip to Azerbaijan, where they discussed potential business opportunities with Tony Blair.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor flew to the country’s capital Baku in December 2009, where he was received by controversial President Ilham Aliyev. 

During the meeting, the pair talked about increasing ‘economic cooperation’ between the UK and the former Soviet Union state.

But behind the scenes Andrew appears to have also used the trip to help wealthy Tory donor David Rowland and his son Jonathan build their private businesses.

In an email to Azerbaijani entrepreneur Nasib Piriyev, drafted on December 14, 2009, Jonathan says he ‘recently visited Baku with HRH Prince Andrew at the same time Tony Blair visited Baku for AzMeCo [Azerbaijan Methanol Company]’.

A few days earlier, he also emailed Mr Blair’s offices, saying: ‘It was a great pleasure to meet you and Mr Blair with HRH last week in Baku.’

…And the day he put them before country by passing on a ‘deal’

By Mark Hookham 

A bombshell email shows how Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor diverted an apparent offer of lucrative UK investment opportunities from the Saudi government straight to his financier friend David Rowland, saying it would ‘seem to be much better placed with you’.

An offer came in a message sent on May 27, 2008 by Neil Hollinshead – who was later sentenced to seven years in prison for pretending to represent the Saudi Royal Family.

But at the time it was treated seriously by Andrew’s private secretary Alastair Watson, who wrote to his boss on May 28 saying: ‘This has arrived out of the blue. Have sent a holding reply.’ 

Just 58 minutes after receiving the email, Andrew forwarded it to Mr Rowland, writing: ‘This came into my office and would seem to be much better placed with you. Especially after our recent trip’.

During his time as trade envoy, Andrew made multiple trips to Saudi with David Rowland and his son Jonathan – a time which coincided with their plans to launch a Middle Eastern banking operation.