Prince Andrew’s aide told ‘Chinese spy’ that Newsnight interview was ‘ill-advised’

A senior aide to the Duke of York privately admitted that his BBC Newsnight interview was “hugely ill-advised and unsuccessful”, court documents have revealed.

Dominic Hampshire, a close friend and adviser to the Duke, wrote to Yang Tengbo, an alleged Chinese spy, thanking him for standing by the embattled Duke in the aftermath of the November 2019 interview, which saw him forced to step back from public duties.

In March 2020, Mr Hampshire wrote to Mr Yang on Buckingham Palace headed notepaper.

He said: “We have dealt with the aftermath of a hugely ill-advised and unsuccessful television interview, we have wisely navigated our way around former private secretaries and we have found a way to carefully remove those people who we don’t completely trust.

“Moreover, in what originally seemed like a lost cause, you have somehow managed to not only salvage but maintain and then incredibly, enhance the reputation of my principal in China.

“Under your guidance, we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house of Windsor.”

He went on: “We orchestrated a very powerful verbal message of support to China at a Chinese New Year’s dinner and between the three of us, we have written, amended and then always agreed a number of letters at the highest level possible.”

That month, Mr Yang was invited by Mr Hampshire to the Duke’s 60th birthday “as someone who had stood by him through hard times”.

Mr Yang came to the UK to study in 2002 and in February 2023 was banned from returning on national security grounds.

The Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal heard his appeal in December and has now released hundreds of pages of documents it considered. The files include two witness statements from Mr Yang, one dated June 2023 and the other May 2024.

Mr Yang told the tribunal that he first met Prince Andrew at a dinner at St James’s Palace in 2014, having been introduced to Amanda Thirsk, the Duke’s private secretary, by Sir Ron Dennis, the Formula 1 executive.

He appears to have targeted the Duke through Pitch@Palace, the Dragons’ Den-style initiative he launched that year, and was later appointed to lead Pitch@Palace China, which was launched two years later in 2016.

Mr Yang said that beginning the venture was “extremely difficult” because “the Duke’s reputation was fairly negative and based on reporting taken from the British media”.

“After Prince Andrew’s interview with Emily Maitlis in November 2019, everything changed,” he added.

“Following that interview, all international partners of Pitch pulled out or distanced themselves from it… Amanda asked me if we would continue to support Pitch, especially given the success we had achieved in China. At a significant risk for me and my business reputationally, I agreed to continue to support Amanda and Pitch.”

In October 2020, Mr Hampshire wrote to Mr Yang again to confirm the Duke had given him “authorisation to represent him in China” to seek investors for a scheme called the Eurasian Fund.

However, he stressed the importance that the arrangement must remain secret.

“This relationship remains confidential and this letter is not to be circulated digitally,” he said. “I also ask that a record be kept of who has been informed privately of this arrangement.”

Ordered to keep low profile

Mr Yang revealed that as recently as June 2023, the Duke still planned to resurrect his Pitch@Palace initiative, despite having been ordered to keep a low profile and conduct no public duties.

The intention was to restart the initiative under a new name: Innovate Global, Mr Yang said.

“Discussions are ongoing for potential partners for events in countries such as Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, UAE and China,” he added. “There are no plans to hold any events in the UK.”

Mr Yang claimed that he had been “welcomed” into Downing Street as a “respected member of the Chinese business community” and had played a pivotal role in assisting British companies in China.

He said his support of business initiatives such as Pitch@Palace was seen as “hugely positive” for the UK.

Elsewhere, the alleged spy also complained that his exclusion from the UK had prevented him from getting treatment for his diabetes.

“I should add that my trips to the United Kingdom are not simply for business,” he said.

“I have suffered from diabetes for a long time… by the end of 2019 it had become much more serious, enough that it has had an impact on my sight.

“My intention was to return regularly for treatment in the United Kingdom as it is of a higher standard than treatment in China. This has not been possible due to my exclusion.”

Mr Yang revealed that Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador, wanted to know “what was going on” with the Duke and Pitch after the Newsnight interview.

Mr Liu said he wanted to see the Duke and then report back to China.

He added that the Duke’s reputation was “so bad” it would have been “damaging” for the ambassador to be seen meeting him.

As such, Mr Hampshire ensured his rapid entrance into the Duke’s Windsor home by submitting his number plates in advance, reducing the chance of him being photographed by paparazzi if he was stopped at the gate.

The documents also revealed that the Duke of York sought secret advice from a Chinese minister in 2019 about forming a new UK-based think tank focused on China.

In the document written by Alistair Michie, the secretary-general of the British East Asia Council, which promotes links with China, minister Jiang Jianguo was told that the Duke would “value your private thinking” on the proposal.

A representative for the Duke of York was approached for comment.