In 2010, Mr Rowland was invited to Balmoral, the place he reportedly met the Queen and loved tea with the Prince of Wales.
That very same yr, the previous scrap steel vendor, who is alleged to have co-owned an offshore fund within the British Virgin Islands with the Duke, reportedly paid £40,000 to assist clear the Duchess of York’s money owed.
The Duke was later compelled to disclaim soliciting cost from the businessman because it emerged the cash was transferred after he had formally opened the primary department of Banque Havilland in 2009.
Three years later he opened the financial institution’s Monaco department and in 2018, the yr after Mr Rowland apparently paid off his mortgage, the Duke appeared on the opening ceremony for the financial institution’s three way partnership with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund.
Their friendship later prompted accusations that the Duke had repeatedly exploited his position as Britain’s commerce envoy to additional his personal monetary pursuits.
Ski chalet
The Duke is within the technique of promoting his solely recognized asset, a Verbier ski chalet.
He purchased the luxurious chalet his ex-wife, the Duchess of York, in 2014 as a “household funding,” with a mortgage and personal funding from the Queen.
The couple put the property in the marketplace final yr after they had been sued by earlier proprietor, French socialite Isabelle de Rouvre, who alleged that they owed her £6.7 million from the £16.6million sale.