After 40 years at his master’s side, Michael Fawcett’s resignation as the head of Prince Charles’s charitable arm amid an alleged cash-for-honours scandal is a blow for the heir to the throne.
The announcement that the one-time valet, 59, has decided to step down from The Prince’s Foundation before the outcome of an inquiry into the claims is seen by royal observers as a necessary step on Charles’s road to the crown.
With confirmation that Fawcett’s party planning company will also no longer provide services to the prince, Clarence House will be hoping it is enough to draw a line under a potentially toxic affair in which Fawcett is accused of having promised to help secure a knighthood and British citizenship for a Saudi billionaire donor.
The Mail on Sunday published a letter from 2017 in which Fawcett reportedly said he was willing to make an application to change Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz’s honorary CBE to a KBE and support his application for citizenship.
The letter, written on headed notepaper in Fawcett’s then capacity as chief executive of the Dumfries House Trust, said the applications would be made in response to “the most recent and anticipated support” of the trust.
When the claims emerged in September, Fawcett temporarily stepped down as chief executive of The Prince’s Foundation, with Clarence House stressing Charles had “no knowledge of the alleged offer of honours or British citizenship on the basis of donation to his charities” and insisting he was fully supportive of an investigation by the foundation.
In a statement on Thursday evening the foundation announced Fawcett’s resignation. A Clarence House spokesperson said: “Michael Fawcett and [his company] Premier Mode will not be providing services to us in the future. We have all agreed to end these arrangements.”
The decision is said to be Fawcett’s, who friends told the Daily Mail was “heartbroken” and “shattered” by events that had had a “devastating” effect on him. “Michael has resigned and he will never be coming back. He has lost five stone in weight and is a shadow of his former self,” one was quoted as saying.
The decision is said to have been taken without sight of the inquiry’s report, with Fawcett now said to feel well enough to make a decision about his future.
Observers believe his resignation would not have been sanctioned unless it was endorsed by Charles, who once said of Fawcett: “I can manage without just about anyone except for Michael.” Crucially, it is said Fawcett had recently lost the support of the Duchess of Cornwall, once a stalwart fan. Some courtiers are also understood to have viewed his influence in a negative way.
“Clearly this is a situation that needed a speedy resolution. In the royal world at the moment there are several clouds in the sky: Fawcett, the Duchess of Sussex’s court case, the Duke of York’s court case and the question mark over the Queen’s health. One less distraction is obviously a step in the right direction,” said Joe Little, the managing editor of Majesty magazine.
“I know Charles is alleged to have said years ago that Michael was the only person he could not do without. But he will, of course, do without him. In the royal world nobody is indispensable,” Little added. He said Fawcett may well prove a hard act to follow in terms of his fundraising capabilities.
Clarence House’s severance of links to Fawcett could be seen as a way of clearing the decks as Charles prepares for kinghood. “It could be seen in that way. I wonder if it is a decision that Charles was reluctant to make,” said Little. “ It may well be he saw that it was not helpful to the overall picture and that it was a decision he had no choice but to make. A lot of tidying up and housekeeping is necessary before the new reign begins. And clearly this is a case in point.”
However, the royal biographer Penny Junor said Fawcett – a former footman who rose to power – was so important to Charles as a fixer managing things exactly the way the prince wanted them that he may still retain some influence.
“I think he had to go. Damage limitation dictated he had to go. But how far he’ll go I don’t know,” she said. “I think he might still be around in some form or another. He’s been working for the prince for so long. If Fawcett was disaffected and, say, decided to write his memoirs, he knows where all the bodies are buried more than anyone.
“So I think the public night have seen the last of him. But I would be very surprised if Charles cuts him off completely.”
