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Former Prince Andrew charged taxpayers for massage services when he was envoy -ex civil servants allege

Published

5 months ago

February 23, 2026

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor charged taxpayers for massages and excessive travel costs while working as the UK’s trade envoy, whistleblowing retired civil servants have claimed.

One former civil servant, who worked in the UK’s trade department in the early 2000s, had been so annoyed by Andrew’s request to cover the cost of “massage services” that he’d refused to pay it, but says he was overruled by senior staff.

“I thought it was wrong… I’d said we mustn’t pay it, but we ended up paying it anyway,” he told the BBC, about a claim that followed a visit by Andrew to the Middle East.

The Department for Business and Trade has not challenged the claim about Andrew’s time as envoy, between 2001 and 2011, but has referred to the ongoing police investigation into the former prince.

The BBC approached Andrew for a response to these claims. He has always rejected any wrongdoing in his associations with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and denied any personal gain from his role as trade envoy.

Andrew’s role as trade representative was unpaid, but he had the support of civil servants and taxpayer funding for his overseas trips.

In the wake of the revelations in the Epstein files, the former civil servant, who worked for the former UK Trade and Investment department, says he regrets that Andrew was allowed to get away with expenses for a massage, when it might have been a chance to check his behaviour.

“I can’t say it would have stopped him, but we should have flagged that something was wrong,” says the retired civil servant.

Another source, a former senior Whitehall official, backs up the claim. This former civil servant, who oversaw finances in this area, had seen similar expenses for Andrew’s trips and says he has “absolutely no doubt” about its authenticity.

Both of the former civil servants wanted to remain anonymous, but have separately spoken to the BBC about their claims. The BBC has not seen proof of the claim about charging for massages from over 20 years ago. But the BBC has seen documentary evidence of the whistleblowers’ closeness to this area at the time.

And there is nothing unlawful suggested in Andrew’s behaviour.

The former civil servants had independently stepped forward, initially contacting the author Andrew Lownie, who is updating his biography of Andrew, Entitled. They then also agreed to share their testimony with the BBC.

One of the ex-civil servants told the BBC that he’d come forward to Lownie after he’d heard the author saying that no-one inside government had raised concerns – when the civil servant wanted to make clear there had been attempts to discuss this but they had been ignored.

The former senior Whitehall official said he had been shocked by the scale of Andrew’s lavish spending as envoy, including what he thought were excessive flights and unreasonable numbers of hotel rooms and charges for his entourage.

I couldn’t believe it… it was like it wasn’t real money, they weren’t spending any of their own money,” said the senior official, who said that even though he had a responsibility for finance in his own role, there seemed to be little control on spending or proper record keeping.

He says costs disappeared into different budgets, making them hard to trace, and there was little certainty over who had been in Andrew’s entourage.

The former senior Whitehall official blames the deference he personally saw being shown to the then Prince Andrew by very senior civil servants and their reluctance to challenge him.

Checks on Andrew’s trips were given a “rubber stamp”, he recalls, rather than any scrutiny.

There have been previous claims about Andrew’s liking for massages.

In a US court statement, a former employee of Epstein in Florida, Juan Alessi, claimed that Andrew had a “daily massage” when he visited.

Emails about Epstein have revealed a ledger with a list of payments for massages for an “Andrew”.

It’s not known if that is the former Prince Andrew.

Lownie’s biography, Entitled, also claims that on an overseas visit Andrew asked an ambassador to arrange a massage for him.

One of the civil servants speaking out says there were mixed experiences of Andrew on visits. He says he could be “good company” and entertaining, but on other occasions he had seen Andrew “shouting, being rude and generally offensive”.

Lownie has complained about the lack of publicly available information about Andrew’s time as trade envoy, to cast light on claims about the role.

The author has had multiple Freedom of Information requests rejected, including on the grounds that it would be too time-consuming for government departments to go through the volume of information.

Suggesting the scale of the unexplored files on Andrew, one rejection said that one year of his time as trade envoy would mean going through 1,927 digital files, each containing multiple pieces of information.

MPs on the Business and Trade Committee will meet later this week to discuss launching an inquiry into the role of trade envoys and their accountability.

Separately, the Liberal Democrats are preparing to force a debate on Andrew in the House of Commons, while the former Conservative minister Tom Tugendhat has called for an inquiry into the former prince led by a panel of MPs, peers and judges.

Another former UKTI senior civil servant, now retired, told the BBC that when Andrew was a trade representative he could sometimes disrupt rather than support efforts to boost UK trade.

“Andrew was seen as a liability. He went off script, he thought he was an expert, when he wasn’t. He thought he was funny, when he was being rude to people,” said the former civil servant.

It could take months of effort by overseas teams to prepare for one of his visits – only for it to produce a negative impact, says the former UKTI official.

When based in a sensitive Middle Eastern posting, the former official said he had worked hard to prevent the then Prince Andrew from visiting, coming up with excuses to delay attempted visits.

But the former UKTI official said there had been a reluctance to speak out about Andrew, in case it damaged careers.

“No one would complain, it wouldn’t help your reputation,” he said.

The Department for Business and Trade has not challenged the “massage services” claim, but has made the point that Andrew was the “UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment” and it was a different role from today’s trade envoys.

Envoys are now usually MPs and peers, appointed by ministers, and with a formalised set of rules of conduct, which did not apply at the time of Andrew’s time as a trade representative.

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UK PM Burnham slams Infantino, says he’s the ‘wrong man’ to lead FIFA

Published

46 minutes ago

August 1, 2026

EMMANUEL AGAJI

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UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Gianni Infantino was “the wrong man” to lead Fifa after a senior adviser to the president resigned and a third confederation opposed his plan to sell stakes in competitions to private investors.

Burnham was critical of the proposal when it was first announced, and told reporters on Friday: “This was an outrageous suggestion.

“The idea that it could even be brought forward shows that, in my view, [he] is the wrong man to lead the organisation.”

Burnham was speaking hours after the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said it “stands in solidarity” with counterparts in Europe and North, Central America and the Caribbean.

The AFC added Infantino’s plan could not “realistically achieve the necessary broad consensus and unity required to move forward”.

“The Fifa World Cup is the pinnacle of global football and derives its strength from the participation of all Confederations and the world’s leading football nations,” it said.

“Any proposal that risks undermining the unity and universal character of the competition must be reconsidered.”

Shortly after that statement, Carlos Cordeiro – Infantino’s senior adviser on global strategy and governance – resigned, saying the proposal was “a bad deal for football” and would “mortgage football’s future”.

The AFC’s statement means Infantino’s plans are unlikely to be approved by Fifa members if put to a vote.

Infantino had indicated the proposals would need a straight majority to go through – meaning 106 of its 211 members needed to vote in favour for the proposal.

Uefa – the body that governs European football – has 55 votes. Concacaf, which oversees football in North, Central America and the Caribbean, has 35 and Asia has 46.

Should all member associations back the stance of their governing body, that would mean 136 nations are against Infantino’s plan.

•BBC Sports

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SAD: FRSC Enugu Sector Commander Is Dead

Published

1 hour ago

August 1, 2026

EMMANUEL AGAJI

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The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has announced the death of its Enugu State Sector Commander, Corps Commander Franklin Agbakoba.

Agbakoba passed away on Thursday, July 30, while receiving medical treatment at the Niger Foundation Hospital in Enugu, bringing an end to his service with the road safety agency.

The sad development was confirmed in a statement issued on Friday by the Deputy Corps Commander in charge of Operations in Enugu State, Kyrian Okolo.

“The FRSC Enugu State Sector Command received the sad news of the demise of Corps Commander Franklin Agbakoba on Thursday, 30 July,” the statement read.

According to the FRSC, the late sector commander’s remains have been deposited at the Eastern Medical Centre in Enugu.News

The agency, however, did not disclose the nature of the illness that led to his death or provide further details surrounding the circumstances of his passing.

Until his death, Agbakoba was widely recognised for his commitment to improving road safety and strengthening collaboration among security, emergency response and other relevant agencies operating in Enugu State.

During his tenure, he championed initiatives aimed at enhancing inter-agency cooperation, reducing road traffic crashes and promoting public awareness on road safety regulations.

The FRSC also credited him with fostering strategic partnerships that contributed to the advancement of road safety campaigns and the effective delivery of its mandate across the state.

His death has been described as a significant loss to the Corps, colleagues and stakeholders in the transportation and emergency response sectors who worked closely with him during his time in office.

Further announcements regarding funeral arrangements are expected to be made by the family and the Federal Road Safety Corps in due course.

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INEC Rejects PDP’s Submission Of Jonathan As 2027 Presidential Candidate

Published

2 hours ago

August 1, 2026

EMMANUEL AGAJI

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed claims by the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that it manually submitted its list of candidates for the 2027 general elections, including the nomination of former President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate.Executive Branch

The electoral body reiterated that political parties are required to submit the names of their candidates exclusively through its designated electronic nomination portal, casting doubt on the faction’s assertion that it resorted to manual submission after allegedly being denied access to the system.

INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Victoria Ita-Messi, made the clarification in an interview with Leadership in Abuja on Friday while responding to the claims made by the PDP faction.

Although she declined to confirm whether any documents had been received from the group, Ita-Messi stressed that the commission has a clearly defined procedure for the submission of candidates’ names.

“I am not in a position to confirm that to you, but can only tell you that there are procedures for submitting the names of political parties’ candidates to the INEC portal,” she said.

She also questioned the consistency of the faction’s claims, noting that it was contradictory to allege being denied access to the electronic platform while simultaneously claiming to have successfully submitted a list of candidates.

“If the faction claimed that they were denied access to the code, how did they submit the list of their candidates to the commission?” Ita-Messi asked.

INEC’s response comes a day after the Kabiru Turaki-led faction held a press conference in Abuja, where it announced that it had submitted its list of candidates for the 2027 general elections.

The faction claimed the list included former President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate, alongside nominees for governorship, National Assembly and state House of Assembly positions.

According to the group, it adopted the manual submission process after the commission allegedly refused to provide the access codes required to upload candidates through INEC’s electronic portal.

The faction’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, maintained that the manual submission complied with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 despite the alleged denial of access to the online platform.

Ememobong also accused INEC of failing to remain neutral in the ongoing leadership dispute within the PDP, alleging that the commission had ignored relevant facts and judicial decisions relating to the party’s internal crisis.

The leadership tussle within the PDP has produced rival groups laying claim to the party’s national structure, with both sides seeking recognition from the electoral commission ahead of preparations for the 2027 general elections.

INEC, however, has consistently maintained that political parties must comply with its established guidelines and statutory procedures for the nomination and submission of candidates.