The commercial arm of the Duke of York’s Pitch@Palace scheme has withdrawn more than £230,000 from its account, half its cash balance.
Accounts filed at Companies House this week show that in the financial year to March 31, 2024, the amount of cash at hand and in bank at Pitch@Palace Global Ltd went from £454,979 to £220,990. The document that shows the withdrawal was signed by the company’s sole director, Arthur Lancaster, on behalf of the board. It does not state what the money was used for or to whom it was paid.
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According to the latest accounts, the “strategic direction and purpose of the company remains under review”.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, alongside Yang Tengbo at the Pitch@Palace China opening event in 2016
It comes after concerns over the future of Prince Andrew’s scheme, which was set up to connect start-up companies with potential investors.
It emerged that a businessman who had been appointed founder of the programme’s enterprise in China was an alleged spy.
Yang Tengbo twice visited Andrew at Buckingham Palace within days and was invited to his 60th birthday party. However, he was banned from the UK by the Home Office on security grounds.
When Tengbo, 50, tried unsuccessfully to have the ban lifted last month, his connection to Andrew was revealed.
A letter was found on Tengbo’s mobile phone from the duke’s senior aide, Dominic Hampshire. Writing to the alleged spy in 2021, Hampshire said: “Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.” He went on to say: “Under your guidance, we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor.”
Shortly after the connection was made public, Andrew, 64, said he had “ceased all contact” with Tengbo, who had been authorised to act on his behalf in China.