Yang Tengbo, a wealthy Chinese businessman, became very close to Prince Andrew through a project called Pitch@Palace. This project was set up by the prince to help new businesspeople find investors. Yang wasn’t just involved—he became a key player, especially in organising events in China where big business deals were discussed.
Today, the UK government is releasing court documents that explain more about Yang’s connection to Prince Andrew. These documents have been kept private until now due to a legal battle. They will give the public a clearer picture of Yang’s actions in the UK before the government decided to ban him for reasons related to national security.
Officials believed Yang might have been trying to secretly influence Prince Andrew on behalf of the Chinese government. They were worried he was using his close relationship with the prince to push China’s political goals. Yang has denied doing anything wrong and says he was just doing business.
One serious concern is that Yang didn’t tell anyone about his connections to a part of the Chinese Communist Party that is known to be involved in political influence around the world. He had been living in the UK since 2002, and during that time, he quietly became more powerful within the prince’s business circle.
Yang’s influence became even stronger after Prince Andrew gave a very controversial interview to the BBC in 2019, where he tried to explain his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. The interview went badly and damaged the prince’s reputation. After that, Prince Andrew stepped away from public duties, and Pitch@Palace eventually stopped running in the UK and China. However, during that time, Yang’s role became more important behind the scenes.
The BBC has seen documents showing that one of the prince’s top aides, Dominic Hampshire, told Yang he had personally helped fix the prince’s reputation in China after the interview. Yang was then asked to join a big new project with the prince in 2020, called the Eurasia Fund. This fund was supposed to raise $3 billion for projects in Africa and the Middle East—projects that would be supported by the Chinese government. The idea was that Prince Andrew would lead the fund.
UK intelligence services became very concerned. They feared the fund could allow China to use a member of the British royal family to increase its political power and reach in other parts of the world.
The new court papers include emails and messages from Dominic Hampshire, explaining what he did and how closely he worked with Yang. They also talk about how a UK government agency began questioning him and what happened to the Eurasia Fund, which was never launched in the end.
Other documents show Yang also worked as an adviser to large British businesses, helping them deal with China. In private messages, Hampshire told Yang that Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview had been a big mistake. He also told Yang that he was in a very powerful and important position—one that many people would love to be in.
Yang was even invited to a private dinner for the prince’s 60th birthday, showing how trusted and close he had become. In one message sent before a planned phone call between the prince and Yang, someone wrote that the prince was in a desperate place and would hold on to any support he could get.
Now, Yang is fighting to return to the UK and is appealing the government’s decision to ban him on national security grounds. He continues to deny that he ever acted on behalf of the Chinese state or tried to influence anyone for political reasons.
