Royal Gangsters,

As questions grow over who funded the York sisters’ lavish lifestyles, how a Libyan gun smuggler was invited to Eugenie’s wedding, while bride Beatrice received ‘£750,000 as a gift’ from Turkish millionairess

As questions grow over who funded the York sisters’ lavish lifestyles, how a Libyan gun smuggler was invited to Eugenie’s wedding, while bride Beatrice received ‘£750,000 as a gift’ from Turkish millionairess

A deep dive into Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice’s very generous, six-figure ‘wedding gifts’ has sparked fresh speculation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s finances, a new book has revealed.

Writing in Entitled, historian Andrew Lownie detailed how convicted Libyan gun smuggler Tarek Kaituni was among the guests at Eugenie’s nuptials (and had given her an £18,000 diamond necklace for her 21st birthday) while Turkish millionairess Nebahat Isbilen ‘sent some £750,000 into the disgraced Duke’s personal bank account’, allegedly for Beatrice’s ceremony.

The elusive attendees, and their plentiful sums, are often linked to the princesses’ parents and their various financial endeavours throughout the years – inviting questions about how their daughters’ notoriously lavish jet-setting lifestyles were funded throughout their youth.

n 2018, when Eugenie tied the knot with Jack Brooksbank in a fairytale wedding at Windsor Castle, among the VIP guests (which included Naomi Campbell, Demi Moore, Ellie Goulding and Cara Delevingne to name a few) was a Hong Kong tycoon.

Dr Johnny Hon was familiar with her mother, Sarah Ferguson, who had the year prior become a non-executive director at a venture capital company he was chairing, called Gate Ventures.

Things turned sour, however, and a bitter court battle ensued soon after, when Chinese investors brought action against the company, with ‘claims that it had given misleading information about loans provided to Ginger & Moss, a company founded by the duchess, and that of the £24million raised from shareholders, £19million had been “lost”‘.

Later media reports alleged ‘lavish’ spending at Gate, as well as ‘unusual transactions with offshore companies and deals involving its directors’, including a loan to former boyfriend Manuel Fernandez’s company, vVoosh, in which the duchess had invested.

According to Lownie, Sarah had been brought on to help with foreign expansion, but, it appeared, this led to the Dr Hon ‘bankrolling the royals’, with him charging some £3million in expenses which included £8,000 for tea with the Duchess of York – and, as a Judge pointed out, ‘That is not the purpose for which these small Chinese investors paid their money in to the company.’

Dr Hon ‘stressed that all activities charged to the company were “for the benefit of Gate and were legitimate business expenses”‘.

He also reportedly claimed: ‘No part of the spending was for my personal benefit or personal enjoyment. It was hard, often exhausting, but necessary work.’

Dr Hon declined to speak with Lownie for the book – but he is not the only controversial figure to have been in attendance at the royal wedding.

A deep dive into Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice’s very generous, six-figure ‘wedding gifts’ has sparked fresh speculation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s finances, a new book has revealed. Pictured in 2018

Also present was convicted Libyan gun smuggler Tarek Kaituni, who had known Andrew since 2005

Also present was convicted Libyan gun smuggler Tarek Kaituni, who had known Andrew since 2005.

Three years later, they had also enjoyed a four-day holiday to Tunisia – financed by the Middle Eastern billionaire, which included a visit to Colonel Gaddafi.

Kaituni and business adviser Selman Turk are both said to have held meetings with the ex-Duke, which invited more questions in 2022, when the Virginia Giuffre settlement raised fresh speculation into his finances. 

One such query ended up embroiling a Mrs Nebahat Isbilen, who was at the time suing Turk for £40million of funds, which she claimed he had ‘misused’.

She alleged one instance of this had been a sum of £750,000, which had been sent to Andrew’s personal bank account in 2019. Turk had said to her that this was because the former duke was helping her get a Turkish passport.

However, Andrew’s office allegedly told Isbilen that ‘it is a gift for the cost of the wedding or a gift to Princess Beatrice… I mean, I’m not sure it makes much difference, does it? I think it’s a gift for the wedding… What she and her family decide to do with it is really to do with them, isn’t it?’ 

The wedding took place seven months later. 

There has been fresh speculation over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s finances