Royal family fail to declare official gifts for past four years

The royal family has been criticised for failing to declare official gifts which have been handed over for the past four years.

Buckingham Palace says records are still being updated and would be provided in future - but had been hampered by the change of reign, with Charles becoming King following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in October 2022.

Anti-monarchy campaigners say they should be held to similar standards as MPs who must declare 'freebies' - such as the Taylor Swift concert tickets and clothing recently revealed to have been donated to Sir Keir Starmer and Labour ministers.

The new concerns raised about an apparent lack of transparency on gifts to royal family members follow previous 'cash-for-honours' allegations.

And there was uncertainty over £500,000 ear-rings worn by the Duchess of Sussex at an event in Fiji six years ago - later revealed to have been given to her by Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Meghan and her husband Prince Harry. the Duke of Sussex, quit frontline royal duties in 2020 and moved to the US in a bitter split from the royal family. 

There is no public register of gifts and hospitality received by members of the royal family, who are said to act on private secretaries' advice on what to declare.

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Guidelines were drawn up in 1995 and later updated, with the Palace announcing it would publish annual gift lists.

There was criticism after the then-Duchess of Cornwall, now Queen Camilla, who received lavish jewellery in 2006 from the Saudi royal family and which she wore during an official visit to the US in 2007.

And King Charles, when Prince of Wales, was said to have received £2.6million in bags from a Qatari politician for the Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund.

The most recent annual list of official gifts given to all working members of the royal family was published back in April 2020, the Observer has reported. 

No list of wedding gifts for the Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate, was published when they wed in 2011.

And only a few official presents given to the late Queen Elizabeth for her platinum jubilee in 2022 were publicly revealed - while it remains unclear whether any were received by Charles for his coronation last year, the newspaper added.

This was in contrast to how 2,500 items went on display to the public after being gifted to Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, when she wed Philip Mountbatten in 1947 and a lengthy list was published.

Graham Smith, chief executive of campaign group Republic which wants to replace the monarchy with an elected head of state, said: 'It is vital that the public knows about any possible conflicts of interest or attempts to curry favour with royals, as they have direct access to the highest levels of government.

'Charles and senior royals have access to government papers, can have secretive meetings with ministers and the prime minister and they have leverage to pressure government to do favours for them and their friends.

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'The royals have form when it comes to blurring the lines between what’s theirs to keep and what’s an official gift, so full disclosure is needed on what’s been received and where those gifts are now.

'If we demand high standards from politicians, we must demand those same standards from the royals.'

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We will publish the details when the records are up to date following the transition of reign.'

Representatives of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been approached for comment. 

There are strict guidelines around accepting gifts as a member of the Royal Household.

The official policy, in place since 2003, makes clear that royals should think carefully about the reason for the gift and not accept it if it could be seen to put them under obligation to the donor, or if the donor expects something in return.

Members of the family can only receive personal gifts, which they can keep, if they meet strict conditions.

They must be given by people known privately to the member of the Royal Household and not in connection with any public duty - or they must be worth less than £150 and come from bodies or individuals with whom the member of the Royal Household has an established relationship.

Otherwise they are classed as 'official' gifts, which are not the personal property of individual royals.

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The Saudi royal family has regularly given jewellery to their British counterparts.

Royal jewellery expert Lauren Kiehna has previously told how Princess Diana received a suite of diamond and sapphire jewels from Crown Prince Fahd as a wedding present in 1981.

Queen Camilla received three suites of jewellery during her official visit to Saudi Arabia in May 2006.

Meanwhile, it was revealed last month that a society fixer embroiled in a royal 'cash for honours' scandal had been disqualified by the charity watchdog following an investigation into donations to the King's Foundation.

Michael Wynne-Parker was deemed unfit to serve as a charity trustee and disqualified from holding a senior position or trustee role in any charity for 12 years.

The move came after The Mail on Sunday revealed that the 78-year-old had told wealthy donors he could secure dinner with King Charles and an overnight stay at Dumfries House in return for six-figure sums.

Mr Wynne-Parker was an advisor to Saudi billionaire Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz and a trustee of his charity the Mahfouz Foundation, which has been under investigation since 2021.

The Charity Commission found that almost £200,000 in donations meant for the King's Foundation were transferred to Mr Wynne-Parker's private company's bank account.

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The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation in 2022 following claims that the King's right-hand man Michael Fawcett had fixed an honour for Dr Bin Mahfouz. Dr Mahfouz had previously denied any wrongdoing in 2021.

Mr Fawcett was accused of helping to secure the Saudi tycoon a CBE that was handed over by Charles in a private ceremony in 2016.

Mr Fawcett resigned as chief executive of the-then Prince's Foundation in the wake of the allegations in 2021.

It was then announced two years later in 2023 that detectives would be taking no further action.

It also emerged in June 2022 that former Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani donated £2.5million to the Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund (PWCF).

Three donations of nearly £900,000 a time – in 500 euro notes – were stuffed in carrier bags and a holdall.

The donations from the sheikh, who was prime minister of Qatar from 2007 to 2013, were said to have been personally accepted by Prince Charles.

On one occasion around £900,000 was said to have been handed over in carrier bags from luxury shop Fortnum and Mason.

Another time, the sheikh was reported to have been in a private meeting with the prince at Clarence House, in 2015, when he gave him £850,000 in a holdall.

A Clarence House spokesperson said at the time: 'Charitable donations from Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim were passed immediately to one of the prince's charities, who carried out the appropriate governance and have assured us all the correct processes were followed.'