Prince Andrew pulls out of arms sale trip to Saudi Arabia
Prince Andrew has pulled out of a controversial arms-selling trip to Saudi Arabia, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The Duke of York was due to travel to the repressive oil-rich state next week with the Government’s business promotion arm, UK Trade & Investment, to boost defence contracts.
The visit was also intended to send out a message that he will weather the furore surrounding his friendships with a convicted paedophile and a series of tyrannical foreign regimes.
Royal handshake: Prince Andrew meets Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al-Saud in London last year, but has now cancelled a controversial trip to the country
But in the past two days, the trip has been ‘postponed’, senior royal sources confirmed last night.
Buckingham Palace aides vehemently denied that the retreat was brought about by the duke’s increasingly shaky hold on his ten-year unpaid post as trade envoy.
It is understood that political unrest sweeping the Arab world means that Saudi Arabia is not considered safe enough for a royal visit.
But insiders claimed that nearly three weeks of damaging revelations about his personal life and links to tyrannical regimes played a part in the decision.
And there was pressure on the duke to avoid further accusations that he has befriended rich and powerful foreign figureheads for personal gain.
A source said: ‘If he was going to attempt to straighten things out, you would expect he would want to go ahead and show it is business as usual. It was a very last-minute decision.’
While there have been bloody uprisings across the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has remained fairly calm. Yesterday, a planned country-wide ‘day of rage’ appeared to fizzle out. The country’s interior ministry reported only one small demonstration, in the eastern city of Al-Ahsa.
State banquet: Prince Andrew meets with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in London during 2007
Andrew’s trip had been planned after UKTI identified the Islamic state as one of the most attractive potential markets for British firms.
A few weeks ago, David Cameron took eight arms dealers on a visit to the Middle East at the same time as British tear gas and equipment were being used by Colonel Gaddafi to put down rebellions in Libya.
The duke’s withdrawal comes after former ambassador Stephen Day called on him to step down from his role, and condemned him as the ‘worst person’ to deploy in countries such as Qatar, where his presence was seen as ‘crass’.
Frantic negotiations involving UKTI, Buckingham Palace and the Foreign Office have been going on for at least a week over the visit to Saudi Arabia.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘Buckingham Palace has never announced any overseas visits for the Duke of York.’
A source added: ‘The Foreign Office, UKTI and the Palace have agreed to postpone the visit, given current circumstances in the region.’
Since mid-February the duke has been dogged by revelations about his close friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The duke’s links to Colonel Gaddafi and his son Saif, arms smuggler Tarek Kaituni and the President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan have also drawn criticism from MPs.
This week he was summoned to Buckingham Palace by the Queen, amid fears that there are more skeletons in the cupboard.
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