Prince Andrew is said to have demanded a face-to-face meeting with MI5 amid the Chinese spy controversy, with it later cancelled at the last minute by the intelligence agency’s boss.
The Duke of York had requested to speak to MI5 head Sir Ken McCallum in a bid to find out more about the security worries about his close confidant, Yang Tengbo.
Yang, a businessman and former York University student, was barred from returning to the country after intelligence agencies suspected he was gaining access to influential public figures on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. Mr Yang denies the allegations.
According to the Telegraph, Sir Ken agreed to meet Prince Andrew in June 2024, however the security chief later cancelled the meeting in the eleventh-hour.
The Duke was unenlightened to the situation regarding Yang, it is believed, even though he has the highest security clearance to this day, despite no longer being a working royal.
However any meeting between the MI5 boss and the royal would have been extremely abnormal due to the fact that the Prince’s close confidant and business partner was under investigation.
Sir Ken reportedly cancelled the meeting when former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election. The face-to-face discussion was not rescheduled with the pair never meeting.
It is also understood that Sir Ken did brief the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Edward Young during the height of the probe into Yang at Buckingham Palace in December 2021, where he raised concerns about his blossoming friendship with the Duke.
The Palace meeting was planned weeks after Yang was detained by police at a British airport, where he handed over his mobile phone as well as other devices, where messages said he was ‘at the top of the tree’ of Andrew’s closest friends.
Prince Andrew ‘demanded a face-to-face’ meeting with MI5 amid the Chinese spy, with it later cancelled at the last minute by intelligence agency bosses.
Yang Tengbo – who has since been banned from Britain on national security grounds – at an event alongside a laughing Prince Andrew, who is now facing questions about the pair’s relationship
Sir Ken McCallum (pictured) agreed to meet Prince Andrew in June 2024, however the security boss later cancelled the meeting in the eleventh-hour
Sir Ken’s meeting with Sir Edward indicates a high-level of concern held by the security agency about the possibility of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s son becoming influenced by the Chinese entrepreneur.
It also suggests that MI5 were privy to the sensitivities of launching a probe into the close friend and business partner of the senior royal, whose reputation was already marred by his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Prince Andrew asked for the in-person briefing with the MI5 boss two years after his Chinese business partner was first detained at a British Airport, and a year after the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, banned Yang from the UK.
The meeting would have happened a month before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission heard a second appeal from the Chinese businessman, which was later rejected.
It is understood Prince Andrew was never formally told by MI5 or Buckingham Palace to cut off contact with Yang.
MailOnline has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.
It comes as Prince Andrew could face fresh embarrassment after judges ruled that further documents relating to his dealings with an alleged Chinese spy can be released.
A witness statement made by the Duke’s ‘senior aide’ Dominic Hampshire, containing comments about his work with Andrew which ‘might seem embarrassing or indiscreet’, will be among a cache of files released to the public.
At an earlier hearing, a court heard that Yang had become a ‘close confidant’ of Andrew who had ‘won a significant degree, one could say an unusual degree, of trust’.
Yang Tengbo went by the more Anglicised name of Chris Yang in his business dealings in the UK
King Charles was recently dragged into the Chinese spy scandal engulfing Prince Andrew after new court documents claimed he was personally briefed about an investment fund involving the alleged agent
Following an appeal by the media for the release of further documents in relation to Yang’s appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission [SIAC], Mr Justice Bourne, sitting alongside Judge Stephen Smith and Sir Stewart Eldon yesterday said documents including Mr Hampshire’s witness statement could be disclosed.
‘Substantial parts of the witness statement contain material which cannot possibly be said to be confidential, such as information about Mr Hampshire’s background or about how he came to know Mr Yang,’ Mr Justice Bourne said.
‘There is information about his own activities which has no appearance of any particular confidentiality. There is also information about the Duke of York which is in the public domain, for example the negative impact of the Duke’s 2019 Newsnight interview.’
He added: ‘There are also comments about Mr Hampshire’s work with the Duke which might seem embarrassing or indiscreet, but they are not such as to give rise to the inference that a legal duty of confidentiality attaches to them.’
Representing the media, including the Daily Mail, Adam Wolanski KC said it was ‘extraordinary’ that Mr Hampshire, a former Scots Guard and equerry to the Duke of Kent, did not take legal advice before providing his statement.
Mr Hampshire was said to be of the belief that his statement would remain private.
Documents previously released in the case show Mr Hampshire had thanked Yang for standing by Andrew following his 2019 Newsnight interview over his relationship with late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew’s senior aide Dominic Hampshire, a former soldier and equerry to the Duke of Kent, said there were two meetings between Yang, Prince Andrew and the King between December 2023 and May 2024
The now-infamous photo of Prince Andrew, his accuser Virginia Giuffre and Jeffrey Epstein’s close confidante Ghislaine Maxwell in Maxwell’s London townhouse
Yang was also invited to Andrew’s 60th birthday party and was integral in launching the duke’s Dragons Den-style investment roadshow, Pitch@Palace, in China.
One letter written by Mr Hampshire to Yang and released following an earlier court hearing, said: ‘I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal [Andrew] and indeed his family.
‘You should never underestimate the strength of that relationship… Outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on.’
The documents are due to be released next month.
More recently His Majesty King Charles was dragged into the Chinese Spy scandal engulfing Prince Andrew after new court documents claimed he was personally briefed about an investment fund involving the alleged agent.
Prince Andrew is interviewed by Emily Maitlis on BBC’s Newsnight in which he denied a series of explosive claims
A witness statement made by Andrew’s senior aide Dominic Hampshire in support of Yang Tengbo said there were two meetings with Charles between December 2023 and May last year.
Mr Hampshire, the Duke and the King discussed ‘what the Duke can do moving forwards in a way that is acceptable to His Majesty’ after his business opportunities dried up following disclosures about his relationship with billionaire American paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Part of their discussions centred around an investment vehicle called the ‘Eurasia Fund’, in which Yang was directly involved.
The fund was intended to use Chinese investment in renewable energy projects in Africa but never got off the ground. There is no suggestion the King was aware of any security concerns relating to Yang.
