Buckingham Palace has released a statement praising Anthony Pratt as “one of Australia’s foremost philanthropists” after leaked audio in which the billionaire claimed he was asked by aides to stop payments to the future King.
Covertly recorded audio published by Nine newspapers this week captured Pratt discussing hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to the then Prince of Wales, saying his “superpower” of being wealthy made him “useful” to the future King.
The audio also captured Pratt saying he had been advised by an aide to make future donations to the Prince’s trust, to avoid any scandal.
“They’re just so close to becoming the king that he doesn’t want me to bring down the monarchy,” Pratt says in the leaked audio, reportedly recorded in 2022.
“Well, he just doesn’t want the appearance of anything. It’s legal, but he doesn’t want to look like he’s … because he just got into trouble for giving someone a knighthood in exchange for money.”
There is no suggestion the payments were improper and a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told Guardian Australia that “any donations from Mr Pratt” were to “support the work of the former Prince of Wales’ charitable organisations”.
The Palace spokesperson described Pratt as a leading donor and praised his charitable record.
“Mr Pratt and his charitable foundation have been supporting the former Prince of Wales’ charities for many years and, as is well documented, he is the Founding Patron of Prince’s Trust Australia,” the spokesperson said. “It is also a matter of record that Mr Pratt is one of Australia’s foremost philanthropists, who has donated to a wide variety of charitable organisations.”
Pratt has not responded to requests for comment made through his packaging and recycling company, Visy.
Other audio, reported by both Nine and the New York Times, shed new light on Pratt’s relationship former US president Donald Trump. It came about a month after US reports that prosecutors were probing Trump’s alleged disclosure of sensitive information about nuclear submarines to Pratt.
Trump posted on social media denying the story. He described Pratt as a “red haired weirdo from Australia”.
The pair have had a close relationship in the past. Trump helped Pratt open a new plant in Ohio and described him as a “friend” in 2019.
“We’re here to celebrate a great opening and a great gentleman,” Trump said at the time. “Anthony is one of the most successful men in the world – perhaps Australia’s most successful man.”
There is no suggestion that Pratt has engaged in any wrongdoing or that he is under investigation as part of the probe by special prosecutors in the US of Trump’s handling of confidential information.
