Princes to run secret Diana charity
by Nigel Rosser
Prince William and Prince Harry are set to take over a secret private charity founded by their mother so she could quietly donate hundreds of thousands of pounds to obscure organisations.
The Princes are considering an offer to become patrons and to vet applications for grants from the £1 million-strong fund, founded by Diana, Princess of Wales, shortly after she married Prince Charles in 1981.
It emerged today that the secretive trust was financed by quasi-fees donated to the Princess over the years by companies and organisations in return for her many appearances.
The firms would be dropped heavy "hints" that a donation to her private charity might be an appropriate way to thank her for turning up, according to reports today.
In turn, as her popularity and work-rate escalated, the Princess would then donate hundreds of thousands of pounds to small, unpublicised, charities.
Diana would sit alone at her home in Kensington Palace when her sons were away at school and sign away money to charities, often unglamorous and controversial, as they took her fancy.
In addition her charity would spend thousands of pounds to buy alleged "personal effects" for the Princess which would then be auctioned off at several times their retail value at fundraising events, with the money given to chosen causes.
The donations from the secret trust were in addition to the funds she raised for her major charitable organisations.
The Prince of Wales's office said today it was too early to say whether the Princes would take up the offer. However, because the charity was clearly so close to their mother's heart, royal-watchers believe they may well choose to help disburse the £1 million accumulated in its banks.
In its four most active years in the mid-Nineties, the fund made donations to 420 charities worth on average £740 each - more than £310,000.
The fund was started with £100 donated by the Princess herself. In 1996, the last year for which accounts are available, it made 100 grants worth £43,649 in total. In its best year, 1994, it received donations worth £114,013.
Michael Gibbons, a trustee and the Princess's former private secretary, said today: "It was very much her style to give money to organisations which were not fashionable or which would not otherwise have received money. The trust was there to make charitable grants, not to score points. It was something she did not want to publicise."
Small charities which received money from the trust included Liverpool One-Parent Families, Hull Women's Aid and Refuge.
Homelessness charities like Centrepoint and Aidsrelated charities like Body Positive and an Aids helpline also benefited.
© Associated Newspapers Ltd., 11 August 1998