LONDON — Prince Charles was “taken to the cleaners” and handed over his entire personal fortune to Princess Diana as part of their divorce settlement, his former personal financial adviser has revealed.
Geoffrey Bignell, who handled the prince’s financial affairs for more than a decade until 1996, disclosed that the heir to the throne was forced to sell his entire investment portfolio to meet the demands of the princess.
“Princess Diana took every penny he had,” Mr. Bignell told the Sunday Telegraph last week. “I was told to liquidate everything, all his investments, so that he could give her the cash. He was very unhappy about that. That’s when I stopped being his personal financial adviser, because he had no personal wealth left. She took him to the cleaners.”
As part of the divorce in July 1996, Diana reportedly received a lump sum of 17.5 million pounds ($32 million) and an allowance for her private office. Queen Elizabeth also allowed her and the couple’s two sons, William and Harry, to continue to live in Kensington Palace.
Diana, who was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997, was encouraged by her attorney, Anthony Julius, to give up her title “Her Royal Highness” — a move she later regretted — in return for a better financial deal.
Mr. Bignell provided the first detailed account of the extent of the financial impact of the divorce on Charles. At the time, friends of the prince described Diana’s demands as “excessive,” but they came at a time when the queen was pressing the couple to divorce.
The prince has an annual income of nearly $22 million from his Duchy of Cornwall estate but he is not permitted to sell off property or use the Duchy’s capital. It is thought that the queen lent her son several million dollars for the divorce settlement and that he is still repaying her.
Mr. Bignell was interviewed last week ahead of the publication of his memoirs, “Sundowners at Dawn: a Banker’s Tale,” in which he makes only a fleeting reference to his crucial role because, he said, he did not want to “cash in” on his royal links.
Mr. Bignell, 70, began his unpaid work in 1985 after he was recommended to Charles by a mutual polo-playing friend. The prince’s investments were being handled by Barings, the investments bank, but he was looking for a change.
Mr. Bignell was made a member of the Royal Victorian Order in the queen’s birthday honors in 1995 for “personal services to the prince of Wales.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.