Member of Royal Family Using Access To Putin for Personal Profit

An undercover investigation by the UK's Sunday Times has disclosed that the Queen of England's cousin-- Prince Michael of Kent-- is leveraging his status as a member of the royal family and his privileged access to Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime by selling access to business clients seeking favors from the Kremlin.

Two reporters set up a Zoom meeting involving Prince Michael and his business partner Simon Isaacs (aka, the Marquess of Reading) where the journalists posed as executives of a fake South Korean company that invests in gold.

The two undercover reporters told the Prince that they represented a South Korean company that "was looking to hire a royal to market its investment service" and wrote in a letter that it "was planning to set up a Moscow office and offered to hire the prince as an adviser to use his 'excellent contacts' in Russia."  Prince Michael claimed to have influence with the Russian government, saying that he became involved as Patron of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce in 1998.

His friend, the Marquess of Reading, later described the prince as “Her Majesty’s unofficial ambassador to Russia” and that he would be prepared to help “open the door” for the fake company through contact with Putin.

Video of the Zoom call released by the Sunday Times revealed the following exchange:

Reporter: "The fee, $200,000, that we have offered, was it acceptable, sir?"

Prince Michael: "Oh yes, very much so, thank you."

Reporter: "Is it in line with what you would normally charge on a speech like this, sir?"

Prince Michael: "Yes indeed so, I have no, no questions for you on that."

Later in the call, the Marquess of Reading asked the reporters for discretion, saying "we wouldn't want the world to know that he's seeing Putin purely for business reasons, if you follow me."

The Queen, as head of the royal family, still has significant political powers in Britain and many will question whether that continues to be appropriate when it is obvious that members of her family continue to use their position for privilege and personal gain.

For the record, the Queen of England has the following legal powers in the UK:

1. Is believed to have the legal power to fire the prime minister
2. Can appoint members of the House of Lords
3. Receives certain foreign intelligence reports before the prime minister does
4. Can delay or withhold assent of an act of parliament
5. Can open or end a parliamentary session
6. Is head of the Armed Forces and can direct the actions of the military
7. Can appoint and dismiss ministers and cabinet officials
8. Regulates the civil service
9. Can issue passports
10. Can declare war and make peace
11. Can negotiate and ratify treaties that don't alter the domestic laws of the U.K.
12. Can opt out of paying taxes
13. Is immune from prosecution
14. Can issue pardons

Maybe it's time for the English to reconsider whether someone who is not elected and has no accountability to the British public should have such legal authority.