British newspapers have revealed links between the family of Britain’s hereditary head of state and Russia.
Colonel Christopher Mackenzie-Beevor, is a “courtier” who is the top permanent officer of queen Windsor’s ceremonial bodyguard and a commander of the British empire. According to the Sunday Times he spoke in March at a dinner to inaugurate the British branch of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.
The other diners included a cousin of Windsor’s eldest son, a marquess and the Russian ambassador. A “marquess” is a hereditary member of Britain’s official class system.
According to the Sunday Times the international head of the society is a former Russian spy. It said that “numerous” other Russian intelligence operative have had senior positions in the Society. The US State Department believes that it is “not independent of the government” of Russia. The government of Greece has expelled two Russian diplomats that it accused breaking the law to establish the society in Greece. A message from the former Russian spy was read out at the dinner.
In 2016 the foreign minister of Russia said that the Society was being revived to promote “the fundamental interests of the Russian state”.
The chairperson of the British branch, Michael Wynne Parker, said that the object of the Society was the preservation of Christian values. He admitted that he considered himself a “subject” of queen Windsor. Windsor is the head of the British state church, which is supported by a small minority of British citizens.
Parker is a friend of Michael Franklin (Prince Michael of Kent) with whom he says that he has talked about improving relations between Britain and Russia. He is behind the President’s Cup, a martial arts competition named in honour of Vladimir Putin. Franklin is a cousin of queen Windsor.
The chairperson said that members of the British branch of the Society are “members of the Establishment who are not persuaded that Russia is the enemy”. Two Russians have been charged with a nerve agent attack in Salisbury that resulted in the death of one person.
The loyalties of the Windsor family has been questioned before, particularly since the publication of a photograph of Elizabeth Windsor giving a Nazi salute as a child, as reported here by The Guardian.
Charlie’s Charity Has Russian Connection
It has also been revealed that Charlie Windsor has accepted donations totalling $200,000 from Russian banker Ruben Vardanyan. The money was for the restoration of Dumfries House in Scotland.
According to the Guardian the first “payment came not from Vardanyan’s personal account, but was transferred from an account at Ukio Bank in Lithuania belonging to a shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands – Quantus Division Ltd”.
Quantus moved over $700m into the world banking system between 2006 and 2013 when Ukio became insolvent and was shut down.
Also according to the Guardian Vardanyan is “A well-known philanthropist, he ran an investment bank, Troika Dialog, an independent arm of which moved vast amounts of private wealth out of Russia into Europe”.
“Troika is under the spotlight” says the Guardian “because staff from this independent division administered a network of shell companies that appear to have mixed legitimate and illegitimate money”.
“Vardanyan didn’t know anything about this”, the newspaper said. “Neither did Prince Charles. There is no criticism of either of them”.
Windsor used the money to help repay a £20m loan for the purchase of the stately pile in Scotland.
Vardanyan arranged another £1.5m from himself and other Russians through a UK charity to refurbish an estate outbuilding with luxury accomodation for visitors.
Guardian Reports
Banking leak exposes Russian network with link to Charlie
How stately home restoration linked Charlie to Russian money