Dominic Hampshire, a former advisor to Prince Andrew, allegedly ignored warnings from British security services and continued to accept money from an alleged Chinese spy
Prince Andrew’s top advisor reportedly ignored warnings from MI5 over an alleged Chinese spy two years before the Duke of York’s scandal unravelled. Dominic Hampshire allegedly continued to rake in cash from a company owned by Yang Tengbo years after British security services shared their fears directly to the former captain in the Scots Guard.
Hampshire started working for Prince Andrew in 2019, after the royal’s catastrophic BBC Newsnight interview, and the advisor was introduced to the alleged Chinese spy by the Duke around the same time. A witness statement made by Andrew’s ex-senior advisor on May 25, 2024, was made public by judges at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission on Friday, despite Hampshire’s attempts to keep his shocking words silent.
The former captain in the Scots Guard claimed he was warned about possible concerns about the alleged spy, who went by Chris Yang, at a meeting in 2021, according to The Sunday Times. Hampshire then said he allegedly sat down with MI5 officials in Westminster in May 2022 who emphasised their worries about Yang.
Hampshire said: “The lady leading the meeting said there was a concern about Chris and that he has a level of influence. The concern was how that level of influence could affect the duke.”
Although Prince Andrew is believed to have cut off ties with Yang after being warned by MI5, Hampshire appeared to dismiss the security services fears. The advisor wrote a passionate witness statement defending Yang after the alleged spy said he was being excluded from the UK on security grounds in 2023.
Officials claimed Yang had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese figures “that could be leveraged for political interference purposes”. Hampshire’s statement said: “I am extremely disappointed with the malign interpretation that the security services have put on mine and the duke’s relationship with Chris Yang, I have never seen myself as naive or an idiot.”
The advisor, who stopped working with Prince Andrew in 2022, then revealed he was on a “monthly retainer” from Yang’s company – the Hampton Group – after he helped co-found a golf club in China with the alleged spy. That same year Hampshire became a minority shareholder and director of Eurasia Global Partners (EGP).
The EGP is linked to the Chinese investment fund Eurasia which Prince Andrew and the ex-advisor alleged twice went to Windsor “without being seen” to talk to the King about. Yang’s Hampton Group is also linked to the EGP but a source claimed the company was not active at the time, according to The Sunday Times.
Although the advisor said he stepped away from his role with the Prince Andrew in 2022, his 2024 witness statement said: “I am still regularly called in by the royal household to assist and provide counsel in all significant matters relating to the Duke of York.”
In a statement to the Times last week Hampshire added: “In my personal business capacity I continued dealings with Hampton Group in China, which is not sanctioned, and, in accordance with current UK policy, doing business in China and with Chinese individuals is entirely legitimate.”
Yang has previously denied allegations against him and said he had “done nothing wrong or unlawful”.