King held Windsor Castle meeting with former closest aide Michael Fawcett
The King held a farewell audience with his former most trusted aide Michael Fawcett who quit over cash-for-honours claims, it has emerged.
Charles, who was seen driving himself and the Queen to church near Balmoral on Sunday, reunited with his controversial ex-valet and one-time closest confidante in a secret Windsor Castle meeting, The Mail on Sunday reported.
The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into the alleged cash-for-honours scandal but announced in 2023 that detectives would be taking no further action.
The Mail on Sunday reported Mr Fawcett was “welcomed back into the King’s charmed circle once again” and smuggled in and out of the royal apartments in a “military-style operation”.
Charles and Camilla were both seen to wave at wellwishers as they made their way to and from Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral in Aberdeenshire for a Sunday service, with the King at the wheel of their car.
A Palace source said: ‘While we wouldn’t comment on individual private meetings, His Majesty often holds farewell audiences for departing senior staff.
Mr Fawcett, who began his career as a Buckingham Palace footman, went on to become Charles’s most indispensable aide over the decades, with the prince once saying: “I can manage without just about anyone, except for Michael.”
The former royal valet quit twice before, including in 2003 when, as Charles’s personal assistant, he was accused and cleared by an inquiry of selling royal gifts, but was revealed to have accepted valuable gifts from outsiders.
He continued to have the prince’s patronage as a freelance fixer and party planner, and picked up an undisclosed cash severance package as well as an agreement to work as Charles’s events manager.
An independent investigation in 2021 found Mr Fawcett co-ordinated with “fixers” over honours nominations for Saudi billionaire donor Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz.
In January this year, an inquiry by the Scottish charity regulator found Mr Fawcett exposed The King’s Foundation to “substantial risk”, but his actions did not amount to misconduct, over his failure to make sure high-value paintings loaned to the charity were insured.