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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Nadeem Badshah

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor applies to shut down business interests

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his titles and honours last month. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has applied to shut down some of his last remaining business interests including the Dragons’ Den-style startup competition Pitch@Palace Global.

A document announcing the application to dissolve the firm was filed with Companies House on Tuesday, signed by its sole director, Arthur Lancaster.

Pitch@Palace held its first event in 2014 and involved entrepreneurs presenting their ideas to potential investors at locations including St James’s Palace.

It suspended operations in 2019 after the interview Mountbatten Windsor gave to BBC Newsnight about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and in which he denied having any sexual contact with Virginia Giuffre.

The UK side of the business was wound up in 2021 but the international part, Pitch@Palace Global, remained open.

The latest set of accounts showed that the business had £10,965 at the end of March, down from £220,990 the year before, the BBC reported.

Last year, the founder of the Chinese arm of Pitch@Palace, Yang Tengbo, was accused of being a spy, which he denied.

The UK’s semi-secret national security court upheld a 2023 ban on Tengbo entering the country. The businessman had gone to the special immigration appeals commission to appeal against the decision but it ruled that the ban should remain in place.

Another company with links to the former prince, Innovate Global Ltd, also began the process of closing down, according to documents filed at Companies House.

Last month, King Charles stripped his younger brother of his titles and honours and moved to force him out of his 30-room Windsor mansion after months of pressure over his ties to the convicted sex offender Epstein and the allegations made by Giuffre. He has always denied any wrongdoing.

The removal process applies to the titles of Prince, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killyleagh and the style His Royal Highness. The honours affected are Andrew’s Order of the Garter and Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. He had ceased to use the HRH style in 2022 but it had not been formally removed.

It is understood that Andrew, 64, will move next year to a property on the private Sandringham estate in Norfolk, to be privately funded by the king.

His ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, will also move out of the Windsor property and will make her own living arrangements.

Mountbatten Windsor and Lancaster were both contacted for comment.

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