Princess Eugenie’s charity faces further scrutiny from Charity Commission

5 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleNoor NanjiRoyal correspondent

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The Charity Commission has opened a case into Princess Eugenie’s anti-slavery charity, Anti-Slavery Collective, over concerns relating to its spending.

Earlier this year, the watchdog confirmed it was “assessing concerns” about the charity which the princess co-founded in 2017.

On Wednesday, a Charity Commission spokesperson told BBC News: “We have opened a regulatory compliance case into Anti-Slavery Collective to continue assessing concerns raised with us about charitable spending.”

It is understood that the move does not represent a statutory inquiry, and that the body has not yet made any findings or drawn any conclusions. The charity and princess have been approached for comment.

The Charity Commission has not put a timeframe on how long enquiries will take.

However, the move does represent an escalation in the watchdog’s engagement with the charity.

In October, BBC News reported that the charity’s accounts for the previous financial year showed The Anti-Slavery Collective had raised £1.5m in donations but had distributed very little, with £1.3m carried forward.

Much of that income came from a major gala fundraiser held in London in 2023, but a source within the sector has said it is “difficult optically to do anything high profile like that again”.

Its most recently available accounts, to the year ending 5 April 2025, show donations had slumped to £48,000. It spent £191,537 on salaries, double what The Anti-Slavery Collective spent on charity programmes.

In March, a Charity Commission spokesperson told BBC News: “We are assessing concerns raised in the media about charitable spending at The Anti-Slavery Collective to determine what role there is, if any, for the Commission.”

In its latest statement, the watchdog confirmed that as part of its case, it would be engaging further with the charity’s trustees.

The charity, whose focus includes victims of sex trafficking, has been described by royal biographer Andrew Lownie as a “preposterously inappropriate cause” for Eugenie to be involved with.

BBC News approached the charity multiple times to ask for a comment in light of the latest controversy surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – Eugenie’s father – and the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but it has not responded.

Earlier this year, Princess Eugenie stepped down as patron of a separate charity, Anti-Slavery International, a role she had held for seven years.

The UK-based organisation thanked the princess for her support and confirmed its relationship had ended in a statement.

No reason was given for the severing of ties, but it followed the release by the US Department of Justice of the Epstein files which heaped further pressure on her father over his links to the late convicted sex offender.

Mountbatten-Windsor has denied any wrongdoing from his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Eugenie, 36, her sister Princess Beatrice, 37, and their mother Sarah Ferguson are also repeatedly mentioned in the emails and documents.

Being named among the Epstein files is not an indication of wrongdoing.

The Charity CommissionPrincess EugenieUK Royal Family