Prince Andrew’s links to an alleged Chinese spy were detailed in documents released Friday by British courts, which included a statement from a former close aide to the prince about the duke’s line of communication to China’s president Xi Jinping.
The 10-page statement from Dominique Hampshire in May of 2024 was part of a tranche of documents released by the courts following a request from numerous British media organizations regarding Prince Andrew’s relationship to the alleged spy, Yang Tengbo. The documents are part of Yang’s appeal of his exclusion from the UK in December, which he lost.
Yang reportedly forged a close relationship with the prince and was the co-founder of Pitch@Palace China, which expanded the duke’s Pitch@Palace initiative into China.
In a tribunal hearing in December that upheld the earlier decision to bar Yang from the UK, it was revealed that Yang was authorized to act on Prince Andrew’s behalf during business meetings with potential Chinese investors in the UK.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman told parliament in December she took the decision to ban Yang from the UK “because his presence posed a threat to our national security” and was “based on the advice of MI5,” the UK’s domestic security agency.
