Did Prince Charles accept cash from Osama bin Laden family? Prince of Wales releases a rare statement to address claims

Prince Charles has come under scrutiny after a report alleges he accepted over $1 million in donations from the family of terrorist Osama bin Laden. Bakr bin Laden, the half-brother of the terrorist behind the 9/11 attacks, met with the Prince of Wales who accepted a donation to his charity, the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF).

• Prince Charles’ decision to accept a donation from the half-brother of Osama bin Laden has come under fire
• However, the Prince of Wales has released a statement to straighten out some of the facts, insisting the donation was accepted by the charity’s trustees
• In other royal news, Prince William and Charlotte cheer on England's Lionesses ahead of Euro final

Prince Charles’ dealings with Bakr bin Laden and Shafiq bin Laden, the family of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden has come under intense scrutiny, however, in a rare break the royal protocol of “never explain, never complain”, Charles is setting the record straight.

An investigative report revealed by The Times claims that Charles had a meeting with Bakr at Clarence House in London on October 30, 2013, two years after Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan.

The future king, it is reported, accepted a cash donation of over $1 million despite the initial objections of advisers at Clarence House and the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund (PWCF), where the offering was donated.

According to sources, several of Charles’s advisers, including at least one trustee, pleaded with him in person to return the money.

One source is reported in the original piece as saying, “The fact that a member of the highest level of the British establishment was choosing to broker deals with a name and a family that not only rang alarm bells, but abject horror around the world . . . why would you do this? What good reason is there to do this?”

However, Charles has been quick to respond to the report with some corrections.

It is understood that Charles neither brokered the deal himself nor was he the person who agreed to accept the donation.

A spokesperson for Clarence House has released a statement which reads, “The Prince of Wales’ Charitable Fund has assured us that thorough due diligence was undertaken in accepting this donation. The decision to accept was taken by the charity’s Trustees alone and any attempt to characterise it otherwise is false.”

The prince’s meeting with Bakr took place because of his patronage of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, according to the court circular, the official list of royal engagements.

There is also no suggestion that either Bakr or Shafiq bin Laden have ever sponsored or been involved in acts of terrorism, with the two only related to Osama through their father. The bin Laden family formally disavowed Osama decades ago.