In a letter found on one of H6’s devices, H6 was told by Prince Andrew’s adviser, Dominic Hampshire: To continue.”
Mr Hampshire added: “Under your guidance, we have found a way to keep the people involved out of sight in and around the Windsor home.”
Excerpts from the letter included in the judgment do not provide further details about who the ‘persons involved’ were.
The Hampshire Prime Minister also confirmed to H6 that he would be available to act on Prince Andrew’s behalf “in conversations with potential partners and investors in China”.
A document listing the ‘main talking points’ of the phone call with Prince Andrew was also discovered.
“Important: Manage your expectations. It’s really important not to set expectations ‘too high’. He’s in a desperate situation and will grab anything.”
The court assessed that this meant H6 was in a position to “create relationships between senior Chinese officials and British public figures that could be exploited for the purposes of political interference by the Chinese state”.
The judges said H6 had enjoyed “extraordinary confidence from senior members of the royal family who were prepared to enter into business activities with him”.
They added that the relationship developed at a time when the prince was “under considerable pressure” which could “make him vulnerable to the misuse of such influence”.
The prince has faced increasing scrutiny since late 2019 over his friendship with the late US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This included the infamous Newsnight interview in November of that year.
He stepped down from royal duties in November 2019 and the prince has since been dogged by questions about his judgment and finances.
Questions have been raised about the prince’s finances after he reached a multi-million dollar settlement in a civil sexual assault case brought against him by one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Giuffre. The prince has always denied assaulting Madame Giuffre.
