Prince Andrew 'deemed potential national security risk' over alleged China spy links

Sources say that concerns about the Prince's activities were raised by the security services as far back as 2021, and reached the highest levels of Government.

Meetings with suspected spy Yang Tengbo sparked concern among the security services before the Chinese national was banned from the UK in 2023, The Telegraph has reported.

Government ministers were reportedly warned of the concerns that Andrew, now 65, could be meeting suspected spies in his role with a non-defunct charity.

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It is understood that the problem Prince held at least three meetings with Mr Yang, who then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman banned from Britain for engaging in "covert" activity on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

One source told the Telegraph that "absolutely there were concerns" about Andrew's activities from UK intelligence agencies.

The latest claims come in a week which has been dominated by allegations made against the Prince in Virginia Giuffre's posthumously-released memoir titled 'Nobody's Girl'.

The book, which releases on Tuesday, includes several serious allegations against the Prince.

The release of the autobiography comes shortly after scandal-hit Andrew was forced to relinquish his Duke of York title due to the allegations around his association with Chinese officials as well as his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

A Buckingham Palace source said the new allegations made in Ms Giuffre's book were of “very serious and grave concern” and should be “examined in the appropriate way”.

A source added: “The latest allegations should be examined in the appropriate way as the Met have made clear they are doing.