Ben KingBusiness reporter
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is closing down some of his last remaining known business interests, including Pitch@Palace Global Ltd.
Pitch@Palace was a Dragon’s Den-style start-up competition where entrepreneurs could present their ideas to potential investors, and was once seen as a possible source of income for the former prince, after the King stopped supporting him financially.
A document announcing the application to dissolve the company was filed with Companies House on Tuesday, signed by the company’s only director Arthur Lancaster.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor and Mr Lancaster have been approached for comment.
The decision to close Pitch@Palace marks another phase in the former prince’s retreat from public life, after intense scrutiny over his links to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The pitching competition suspended operations in 2019, following an interview Mr Mountbatten-Windsor gave to BBC Newsnight, which led to him stepping down as a working royal and the removal of his royal titles.
The UK side of the business was wound up in 2021, but the international part, Pitch@Palace Global, remained open.
It became a further source of controversy when the founder of the Chinese arm of Pitch@Palace, Yang Tengbo, was accused of being a spy – which he denied.
A Dutch company, Startup Bootcamp, previously said it was interested in buying the business, issuing a press release saying it saw “immense value” in the former Pitch@Palace network. However, the deal unravelled earlier this year.
Most of the cash left on Pitch@Palace Global’s balance sheet has been withdrawn in recent years. The latest set of accounts showed that it had just £10,965 left at the end of March, down from £220,990 the year before.
Mr Lancaster is understood to hold the shares in Pitch@Palace Global on Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s behalf. The latter is listed as a person with significant control under his former title, Prince Andrew.
Another company with links to the former Prince, Innovate Global Ltd, also began the process of closing down on Tuesday.
Arthur Lancaster is the sole director of this company, too, and he signed the application to strike the company off, according to documents filed at Companies House on Tuesday.
A plan to relaunch some of the international activities of Pitch@Palace under the brand Innovate Global was mentioned in a 2023 witness statement given by Mr Yang.
Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s name does not appear on the paperwork for Innovate Global Ltd. It has no employees and virtually no assets.
It was announced on Tuesday that Mr Mountbatten-Windsor’s surname should be spelled with a hyphen.
Versions with and without the hyphen have been used in the past, but a 1960 Privy Council announcement used the hyphenated version, which will be used from now on.
