2 weeks Ago By The Telegraph
Princess Eugenie looks a little bemused. A video posted on social media shows the Princess, wearing a black sleeveless dress, applauding politely as the representative of a medical diagnostic company walks on to the stage to shake her hand. The audience inside the ballroom of The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Tokyo comprised about 1,000 Japanese businessmen, delighted that the granddaughter of Elizabeth II had graced their event, recorded for posterity on camera phones and by a bank of photographers, their flashbulbs illuminating her slightly awkward smile.
The 34-year-old mother of two flew to Tokyo as part of a business deal struck by her scandal-prone father the Duke of York, it can now be revealed. Prince Andrew has agreed a commercial partnership with a Dutch company, effectively selling them contacts and networks made prior to his fall from grace. The Telegraph can disclose that his new business venture, called Innovate Global, was dreamt up with Yang Tengbo, his close friend who is now accused of being a spy for the Chinese regime, out of the ashes of a previous venture Pitch@Palace.
The event in Tokyo last November was run by Innovate Global jointly with Startupbootcamp (SBC), the Dutch-based conglomerate that funds start-up businesses around the world. Their business model is described by sources close to the deal as a good fit for the work that was being carried out by Pitch@Palace and its subsequent incarnation Innovate Global. The deal struck by the Prince with SBC is a lucrative one, potentially worth millions of pounds and whose timing could not have been better.
Last June when the King was cutting off the Duke’s allowance, estimated to be worth £1 million a year, he opened discussions with SBC to sell his former Pitch@Palace network “on a territory by territory basis”. At the time, the Duke was facing the threat of eviction from his home in Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, which he leases from the Crown Estate, but whose running costs would become unaffordable without the annual allowance. The Duke was introduced to Kauan von Novack, the SBC’s chief executive, by a Dubai-based businessman who had known the Prince and done some work with SBC.
Mr von Novack said: “We see immense value in the network built up by Pitch@Palace as we pursue our strategic ambition to empower 100,000 entrepreneurs over the next ten years.” A source with knowledge of the deal said that while some discussions were still ongoing and no money had yet changed hands, “the Duke is selling them Innovate-Global. This deal will keep the Prince in Windsor Lodge.
There are a lot of people who want to help him. “SBC are buying the network and contacts and know-how he built up through Pitch@Palace. These are contacts in places like Bahrain and the UAE that are at the very top of the tree.
These contacts will make the Prince a lot of money and the deal will help him to stay in his home.” SBC began talks with senior Buckingham Palace officials last summer to “seek approval before moving ahead with discussions and agreeing commercial terms” and began a “scoping exercise” on reigniting the Pitch@Palace network in the Middle East and Asia. The Palace sought reassurances from SBC that the commercial partnership being discussed between the Duke and the Dutch company would not damage the reputation of the wider Royal family.
A palace source confirmed that, while it would not comment on the nature of any private meetings or presentations, it was taking a “passive rather than an active role” in the Duke’s financial arrangements. SBC gave the King’s advisers an undertaking that it would not use Buckingham Palace or Prince Andrew’s connections in any of its promotional material, The Telegraph understands. That did not preclude the Princess, in her private capacity, from being front and centre at the Tokyo event on her father’s behalf.
The Prince asked his daughter to attend, The Telegraph understands. Sources suggest she was already in Japan on a work trip for Hauser & Wirth, the international art gallery and dealer for whom she has worked since 2015. The Princess is not a working member of the Royal family but does have some charitable interests and occasionally attends events in a private capacity.
The three-day “Future World” conference, hosted in Tokyo by Innovate Global and SBC, involved hundreds of entrepreneurs invited to meet with investors. Innovate Global had set up the event and SBC jumped on board after the talks with the Duke back in the summer. Pitch@Palace was launched by the Duke in 2014 as a not-for-profit Dragon’s Den-style investment fund in which investors were paired up with start up businesses at events staged at royal palaces, including Buckingham Palace.
He subsequently rolled out a commercial version of the project, Pitch@Palace Global Ltd, of which the Duke was the “significant” controller and entitled to a 2 per cent share of any investment deal for three years. The company staged events in the UK and in 16 other countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Australia and Canada. Pitch@Palace resurrection But in 2019, the Duke was forced to step back from public duties in the wake of his disastrous Newsnight interview over his relationship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Pitch@Palace was consequently moved to the Duke’s “private portfolio”. He then hatched a plan to rename Pitch@Palace as Innovate Global but carry on with a lucrative line of business. Details of the switch in names were contained in the testimony of Mr Yang.
Mr Yang, who ran Pitch@Palace’s network in China since 2016, denies the allegation and has launched an appeal against an order to keep him out of the UK. In a witness statement made in June 2023 that was only recently made public, Mr Yang, stressing his close connection to the Duke and insisting theirs was a business relationship, said: “Finally, the intention is still to resurrect the Pitch programme, under the new brand and name, Innovate Global. “Discussions are ongoing for potential partners for events in countries such as Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, UAE, and China.
There are no plans to hold any events in the UK.” The Telegraph understands that SBC’s senior management team met Mr Yang back in June last year but concluded it did not wish to work with him on any agreement put in place with the Prince. The meeting took place abroad.
By then Mr Yang had been excluded from the UK. In February 2023, Mr Yang was stopped and “off boarded” from a flight from Beijing to London and was told the British home secretary was in the process of making a decision to exclude him from the UK. That decision was confirmed the following month.
A letter found on Mr Yang’s phone from Dominic Hampshire, a senior adviser to the Prince , dated from March 2020 and referred to him being invited to the Duke’s birthday party that month. It said: “I also hope that it is clear to you where you sit with my principal and indeed his family.” Mr Hampshire subsequently introduced Mr Yang to the executives at SBC, according to a well-placed source.
SBC decided not to pursue a deal with Mr Yang and the Chinese branch of Pitch@Palace and terminated any contact prior to allegations of him being a spy being made public. It said the decision to break contact was made before anyone at the company was aware of the spying allegations. While it is not known how much progress Innovate Global and SBC have made in launching their project, back in November, the companies – under the branding IG-SBC – announced plans to launch a $250 million (£202 million) fund to invest in tech start-ups in Africa.
One source said they were unaware of the Duke’s involvement in that particular deal. Another said the fund had no connection to Innovate Global or the Duke. Through all his difficulties, the Duke’s daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice have stuck with him along with the Duchess of York, their mother and his ex-wife with whom he now lives.
The princesses were both shaken by their father’s involvement with Epstein but have remained close despite his fall from grace. It is not the first time that the Duke’s daughters have been dragged into his business affairs. In 2023, it emerged that the Duke, his ex-wife, the Duchess of York, 64, and their daughters received a series of payments totalling some £1.
4 million from Selman Turk, a former Goldman Sachs banker who is accused of stealing some £40 million from a Turkish millionairess. Mr Turk, 37, was jailed for 12 months last year for contempt of court after he failed to produce evidence despite being ordered by a judge to do so. He denies fraud and a trial is due to take place over the missing money.
The Yorks were pulled into the complex legal case after Nebahat Evyap Isbilen sued Turk and various offshore companies over the missing money and issued contempt proceedings over the alleged breach of a court order. The payments included unexplained instalments adding up to £350,000 to the Duke, £225,000 to the Duchess and £25,000 to Princess Eugenie. Neither the Duke or the Duchess were accused of wrongdoing and their daughters are not thought to have had any knowledge of their parents’ dealings with Turk, nor knowingly corresponded with him in any way.
The Duke’s office did not respond to a request for comment about SBC. The Princess does not have a spokesman as she is not a working royal..
