Andrew Mountbatten Windsor reportedly arranged a private tour of Buckingham Palace with a company that had a business deal with his ex wife Sarah Ferguson. Andrew, formally known as Prince Andrew until he was stripped of his royal titles just days ago, is said to have planned the tour for Jay Bloom and Michael Evers from cryptocurrency mining firm Pegasus Group Holdings, which agreed to pay Sarah up to £1.4 million.
The tour, which was held while the late Queen was in residence at the Palace in June 2019, was arranged by Andrew himself, the BBC reports. The businessmen, whose company employed Sarah as a “brand ambassador”, were collected from their five-star Knightsbridge hotel in a car owned by Andrew and driven into the Palace.
There are mixed reports as to whether they met the late Queen, with Buckingham Palace unable to confirm or deny.
The businessmen then attended Andrew’s Pitch@Palace event at St James’s Palace later that same day. They then reportedly had dinner with Andrew, Sarah and their daughter Princess Beatrice, the BBC reports.
The tour came about at the same time Sarah was working with Pegasus Group Holdings, where her role was to promote plans to use thousands of solar power generators to mine Bitcoin at a remote site in the Arizona desert.
The BBC reports that the project failed, with only 615 of the planned 16,000 generators acquired.
Sarah received a stake in the business and was paid more than £200,000 for her work for the company.
The BBC also reports that she was due for a separate bonus worth £1.2m according to leaked reports.
It is also believed Sarah had a contract which stated her requirement for first-class travel and five-star hotels when attending events on the company’s behalf, as well as a hairdresser and makeup artist. She reportedly had a maximum of four networking events she attended on the company’s behalf.
The relationship was believed to be mutually beneficial, with Sarah being paid by the company for being a brand ambassador, and in return giving the businessmen access to royal circles.
It is believed the private tour could show how he used his then royal titles for financial gain for him and his ex wife. Sarah and Andrew have not commented on the matter when approached.
