The Charity Commission has advised civilsociety.co.uk that it will not investigate charities set up by the Prince of Wales after the Guardian raised questions over their lobbying of the government on issues including VAT rates and regional development spending.
The Guardian advised it had obtained letters and emails regarding five of the charities the Prince is involved with, including Business in the Community and the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment (PFBE), which showed efforts to change government policies.
Business in the Community, the publication advised, had urged Business Secretary Vince Cable to rethink a decision to scrap the Northwest Regional Development Agency. Prince Charles has been president of the charity for 25 years.
The publication also suggested a connection between PFBE's urging of the local government minister, Grant Shapps, to incorporate greater community engagement in planning and an £800,000 grant the foundation was, three months later, granted by the Department for Communities and Local Government to advise local groups on new developments. The department has denied a connection.
The correspondence uncovered by the Guardian, the newspaper says, "has prompted fresh concern that the inititatives could be used as a way of extending the Prince's political influence in a way that could cause constitutional problems".
Campaigning and political activity, however, can be "legitimate and valuable activities for a charity" said a Charity Commission spokesperson who told civilsociety.co.uk that it would not be entering an investigation of the charities involved.
"We are not aware of any evidence to indicate that these charities have acted outside of our guidance on charities and political campaigning, nor that they have been inappropriately influenced, in their decision making or in carrying out the charities' work, by HRH the Prince of Wales," they said.
"We are satisfied the charities connected to HRH the Prince of Wales are aware of the importance of maintaining their independence and HRH in not a trustee of any of these charities."
Prince Charles is no stranger to accusations of inappropriate influencing. In 2009 he came under fire in the architecture world for allegedly using his connections and influence with Qatari Diar Real Estate to scrap Richard Rogers' design of Chelsea Barracks. And later that year, then-RIBA President Sunand Prasad sought legal clarification over the Royal's constitutional position after it was alleged by the UK press that in 2005 Prince Charles had secretly lobbied against Jean Nouvel’s design for One New Change, a development currently being built beside the fastidiously protected St Paul’s Cathedral, and that he had also made moves to block a £200m project at Smithfield Market.
Prince Charles is president of 20 charities, 18 of which he has founded. The Prince's Charities is the UK's largest multi-cause charitable enterprise raising more than £100m every year.
