Mark Hollingsworth

How Prince Charles’s €1m bagman infiltrated the British establishment

Qatar’s HBJ is unique in how he has used his fortune to cultivate and influence the heights of British society

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani arrives in Riyadh, 2011 (photo: Getty)

The Queen rarely – if ever – accepts invitations to dinner at private houses, no matter how grand. But in the summer of 2014 the oil and gas rich Gulf state of Qatar became the first ‘official partner’ of Royal Ascot and secured branding rights for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II stakes.

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