Royal donor offered access to Prince of Wales for cash, reports say
Her art gallery – the Mondejar Gallery – was an official sponsor of the annual charitable polo event which is taking place in Windsor next month.
Kensington Palace declined to comment.
It is understood that the Palace was unaware of what is being viewed as a rogue sponsor until alerted by the newspaper, and action was taken immediately.
William usually takes part in the match (Jonathan Brady/PA)
The organisers of the event were not aware it was being used by the Mondejar Foundation to raise money, it is believed.
The Mondejar Foundation has been approached for comment.
The Royal Charity Polo Cup match is an exclusive event where charity donors can watch the prince play polo.
Among the guests at last year's match was TV presenter and interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and wife Jackie, who were seen taking a courtesy golf buggy around the site.
The event raised more than a £1 million for causes that William and Kate are passionate about, including Wales Air Ambulance, Child Bereavement UK, Place2Be, Action for Children and The Royal Marsden.
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The Herald Scotland
39 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Star Wars strikes back – thanks to the Highlands
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It marked a return to the grounded, politically-charged storytelling and practical filmmaking that defined the original Star Wars trilogy. Central to this endeavour was the decision to film key scenes in the Scottish Highlands. The glorious Glen Tilt and the Cruachan Dam and surrounding area of the stunning Pass of Brander became the setting for Aldhani, a planet that is central to Andor's storytelling. The planet's sweeping valleys, rocky mountains, and sacred rivers were brought to life using these Scottish settings. These landscapes certainly look like they could be in a galaxy far, far away – but they didn't just serve as neutral backdrops. As places steeped in history, culture, myth, and folklore these settings told in their own right, echoing the themes of power, colonisation, exploitation and resistance that run through Andor. Glen Tilt, a dramatic glen carved by glacial erosion, has long been a site of scientific and social significance. 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The Cailleach Bheara of Celtic folklore – a supernatural goddess who, legend has it, caused a flood atop Ben Cruachan to form the loch and river below – might well agree. I recall watching the teaser trailer for Andor in 2022. My eyes widened at the shot of rebels covering guns in places that looked familiar, and the scream of the TIE fighter as it careered low across the Cruachan Reservoir – a place I did know. In a following full trailer, which features a looming Imperial Star Destroyer gliding ominously over Glen Tilt, Cassian says the words 'You just walk in like you belong.' So I did. Visiting these places as part of a walking research project – using methods that foreground sensory experience and memory – revealed to me how deeply the Scottish setting is woven into Andor's narrative. These landscapes, with their romance, unpredictable weather and spectacular shifting of light, contributed to a powerful sense of place. Watching clips of Andor on location, I could hear these screaming TIE fighters, the march of Imperial boots, and the ritual chants of the Dhanis echoing in the glens. This wasn't just a viewing experience – it was anamnesis, an act of embodied remembrance of a place to which I had never been. The Highlands where Andor has been filmed (Image: PA) Wildlife, too, played a role in this sensory engagement. At Glen Tilt, I encountered red squirrels –hardy survivors in a country increasingly dominated by invasive grey squirrels. Their presence mirrored the Dhanis' own struggle to maintain an identity, or even just a presence, in the face of Imperial occupation. Similarly, the migration of Atlantic salmon up the River Awe in the shadow of Ben Cruachan evoked the Dhanis' pilgrimage to their sacred site, reinforcing the connection between nature and narrative. Read More: Authenticity emerges from this intersection of storytelling and place, and extends to the show's tone and characters. 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Times
3 hours ago
- Times
Royal donor offered access to Prince William at polo cup for £20k
The Prince of Wales has been forced to cut ties with a donor to his charities after she attempted to sell access to him for £20,000. Minerva Mondejar Steiner, a Filipina-Swiss millionaire whose art gallery was an official sponsor of William's annual charitable polo event, had offered a private meeting with the prince in exchange for cash. She also offered 'VVIP tickets' and 'access to royalty' for advertisers prepared to pay £50,000 to feature in a magazine handed out at the fundraiser. The Royal Charity Polo Cup match, taking place in Windsor next month, is an invitation-only event where millionaire donors can watch the prince play polo. They are expected to give to causes close to his heart, often writing cheques for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Mondejar Steiner, who was on the guest list, extended a 'strictly private and confidential' invitation to wealthy individuals belonging to a luxury concierge service. They were told that, in exchange for donations to her own philanthropic foundation, they could attend the event or even join her in meeting the future king himself. The email read: 'As a patron of the Mondejar Foundation, you are invited to support their philanthropic work through a charitable donation, in return for which you will be welcomed to this prestigious occasion.' It continued: 'Patron contributions: £6,000 — admission for one patron. £20,000 — includes full access plus a private audience with Prince William and Princess Catherine.' The email added that guests would also receive a 'luncheon' with 'free-flowing champagne', watch 'VIP polo matches in an intimate setting', attend an art exhibition, and mix with an 'invitation-only guest list of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, cultural icons and luxury leaders'. It added: 'The attached invitation is for your eyes only and not to be shared publicly or on social media.' The invitation was sent to the members of A Small World — a Swiss company once described as 'MySpace for millionaires' by the Wall Street Journal. In another document, Mondejar Steiner's team offered the opportunity to meet William to potential advertisers in a magazine to be handed to all those at the tournament. For £50,000, she said, she would grant companies a double-page editorial spread and two 'VVIP tickets', securing them seats at the tournament and 'access to the royals'. The disclosures threaten to cast a shadow over the competition, which has granted William an opportunity to play the sport he has enjoyed since childhood among friends, fellow royals, and longstanding supporters. The Guards Polo Club, whose presidents have included the late Prince Philip and whose patron was Elizabeth II, is based at Windsor Great Park, which historically served as a hunting ground for royals at the castle. The charity polo event has been operated on the basis of strict confidentiality and the palace tends to publicly announce William's involvement and publish photographs after it has taken place. This was the case for last year's event, where William was present but Kate, then undergoing cancer treatment, did not. That event raised £1 million for charity. The princess attended in 2023, presenting her husband with a trophy. William at last year's event SAMIR HUSSEIN/WIREIMAGE … and in 2023 Over the last 13 years, the heir to the throne has raised more than £10 million for causes including the Royal African Society, Mountain Rescue England and Wales, and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The explicit nature of the emails has echoes of the cash-for-access scandals involving the King when he was Prince of Wales. Charles always insisted he had no knowledge of any fundraising deals, but was repeatedly found to have met donors who gave money on the explicit condition of meeting him personally or attending black-tie dinners at one of his residences. • Charles accepted €1m cash in suitcase from sheikh The emails also pose questions of William's operation, including the due diligence before Mondejar Steiner was granted the status of an official sponsor, or permitted to host an art exhibition and distribute her own magazine at the event. A Kensington Palace source said William did not 'condone' the behaviour outlined in the email and thanked The Sunday Times for bringing the matter to their attention. In the circumstances, they said, they had asked the club to terminate its relationship with the sponsor. The palace said it had no idea Mondejar Steiner was using the occasion to raise money for her own causes or promising access to William. In an unusually forthright intervention, the source said William did 'not condone the type of behaviour' in question and said there would be no 'cash for access'. They added they were only familiar with Mondejar Steiner's gallery, not her foundation, and did not know she was using the event to raise money for her own, rather than William's, projects, or that she had shared an invitation with a luxury lifestyle company. It is understood William will still be attending the event and a behind-the-scenes reception to thank 'those involved'. Asked what due diligence was done on sponsors of the cup, the palace source said that a secretariat at Buckingham Palace performed checks. It declined to say how much Mondejar Steiner had paid to become a sponsor or put on her own art exhibition at the event, saying the price charged varied. In company filings, Mondejar Steiner, 45, lists her nationality as Filipina and her country of residence as Switzerland. A self-styled 'collector and curator', she studied fashion in London in the early Noughties, then enrolled in an Oxford University further education institute to study art history between 2006 and 2008 before founding her eponymous Mondejar Gallery. Married to Michael Steiner, a Zurich-based film director, she is involved in cultural and philanthropic work. Last September she posed for photographs with the Duke of Sussex at the annual awards for WellChild, the charity for seriously ill children, in London. Weeks beforehand she met Benedict Cumberbatch at a screening of a film about the environment he was hosting, also posing for photos. She posted from the event on Instagram The source and scale of her wealth is unclear. Despite claiming to have an operation in the US, two entities to which she is linked in California have been struck off for failing to file accounts. She founded a property company in London in January, before incorporating her foundation as a 'community interest company' — a kind of non-profit — in April. Neither has a public presence or has published detailed information. It appears she had intended to use the polo event as the centrepiece of a fundraising drive for her commercial gallery and philanthropic work. Documents show she had prepared her own magazine, 1,000 copies of which, she told potential advertisers, would have been presented to 'ultra-high-net-worth' art patrons, collectors and 'institutional buyers' and placed on tables branded with her gallery's logo. Among her 'a la carte' advertising options was £50,000 for a double-page spread and access to royalty, £35,000 for the back cover and £30,000 for the inside front cover. Mondejar Steiner declined to comment. Sources close to her said she was prohibited from doing so as she had signed a confidentiality agreement barring her from speaking about the event until after it had taken place. The sources added that her principal goal was to raise money for the technical college founded by her father in her home city of Tacloban in the Philippines. Brunilde Le Jossec of A Small World said: 'To clarify, [our company] is not selling access, or facilitating any private meeting with members of the British royal family.' She added that it was approached directly by the Mondejar Foundation and asked to share details of their invitation to become a patron of the charity. 'Believing this a relevant opportunity to support a philanthropic cause, a representative of the events team proactively forwarded this to a small group of members, whom they believed would be interested in supporting this charitable cause,' she said.
Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
'Royal plan' to win over Donald Trump from 'secret weapon' to 'icing on cake
The Royal Family look set to welcome Donald Trump to the UK on a historic second state visit after the summer - and it seems the US president could be keen for two major royals to took part After the Royal Family's summer holidays, they will return to duties with a bang due to Donald Trump's state visit to the UK. It is understood the US president will make an unprecedented second state visit to the UK in September with formal planning for the huge event now underway. The state visit comes after UK prime minister Keir Starmer delivered a letter from the King to Trump to invite him for the state visit - dramatically handing it to him in the Oval Office during a visit to the White House. Of course, the King and Queen Camilla will be on hand to host Trump and his wife Melania - but it seems the US leader has been enamoured by another member of the Royal Family, Prince William. The pair met in Paris last year after the re-opening of Notre Dame Cathedral, with Trump reportedly 'obsessed' with the heir to the throne, calling him "very handsome". And former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond believes William possibly teaming up with wife Kate to play a huge royal in the event would do wonders for UK diplomacy. She explained to the Mirror: "President Trump appears to have taken a shine to William, after their meeting at Notre Dame. So I'm sure we shall see Prince William taking a prominent role in the state visit. "The icing on the cake for Donald Trump would, of course, be the presence of the Princess of Wales at some of the events and at the state dinner. That will depend on her health. "But I'm sure both William and Catherine recognise the importance of massaging the President's ego, and they will play as prominent a part as possible. It's what the monarch and his senior working royals must do; it's their job and their duty and they will do it well." When Trump was first told he would be given a second state visit to the UK, the letter from the King invited him to an informal meeting in Scotland as a precursor to a full state visit. But this has now been brought forward by many months. Buckingham Palace was understood to have been hoping for a more leisurely approach amid concern over Trump's threat to make Canada the US's 51st state. However, sources confirmed after conversations between both parties the King and the US president's busy diaries mean they are unable to meet informally first over the summer. And Jennie added: "These are very tricky times for the Government - and the world - so you really can't blame the PM for using every diplomatic weapon in his arsenal. And the King is probably the most powerful weapon he has. "I imagine the King thinks Trump is impudent in the extreme by suggesting Canada should become the 51st US State. I can almost hear the huffing and puffing that it must have provoked behind Palace walls. But Charles also knows that Anglo/American relations are vitally important, and his duty is to help his Government protect that relationship. "So, although the King could conceivably have made himself unavailable at the proposed time, he knows his duty is to stage a spectacular event that will pander to this President's very sizeable ego. And that's what he'll do. "As Prince of Wales, he could allow himself the luxury of boycotting a state dinner for the Chinese president and his entourage – even though it attracted criticism. As King, he no longer has that luxury and he must play a starring role in the state visit at the appointed time. Charles and Camilla will be impeccably behaved, and Trump will be duly bewitched by the magic of monarchy." However, Jennie added that there would also be a diplomatic tightrope to walk for the King given his role as head of state of Canada - which he could even use to his advantage. She explained: "The President views himself as an arch negotiator, but it has to be said that the King is no mean hand himself at convening meetings and encouraging people to hammer out a solution to a variety of issues and problems. "So perhaps he can use a little not-so-soft power to impress upon Trump that Canada is not up for grabs. It is, after all, something exceptionally close to the King of Canada's heart."
