Epstein scandal hits royal-backed Earthshot prize

The ‘Earthshot Prize’ eco-charity set up by royal Prince William and David Attenborough has been reported to the Charity Commission for donations linked to serial child-rapist Jeffrey Epstein. The charity awards five prizes of £1m each to environmental projects each year.

Emirati billionaire Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem’s logistics company DP World is an Earthshot ‘founding partner’. Sulayem appears in the latest release of the Epstein records in the US, having apparently sent a ‘torture video’ to Epstein. The child rapist replied in 2009 and he had “loved the torture video”. At the time, he was serving his first prison sentence at the time.

Sulayem’s email address is illegally redacted in the publicly available files. However, US congresspeople who viewed the unredacted files subsequently named him as Epstein’s correspondent. Sulayem also appears in the files emailing Epstein about the sex he had with another young woman.

Anti-monarchy group Republic lodged the complaint with the Charity Commission. The group’s CEO Graham Smith told the commission that the situation involving Epstein had undermined public trust.

the seriousness of this matter requires a full and comprehensive investigation.

Smith said: Discussions regarding the links to Epstein should not be ignored.

William has lots of questions to answer about what he knew about Andrew and Epstein and now he must explain his relationship with Sulayem. It is not credible to believe the Foreign Office, security services or other advisors were not aware of Sulayem’s character and would have been able to advise accordingly.

Earthshot has a duty to do due diligence, to ask questions about donors and where money is coming from. Did they do that here? If so, did William over rule their better judgement? In the context of this widening scandal we need answers.

William was also allowed to promote his project on a Government-funded visit to the UAE. Smith added: Due to the Epstein connection, there are serious concerns that must be addressed.

Earthshot is not a UK Government project, so why was he using visits to the Middle East to promote the charity?

The Windsors have faced repeated heckling in recent weeks for their inaction over the king’s disgraced brother Andrew. William was also questioned yesterday, 11 February 2026, about the issue during a visit to Saudi Arabia. None of the royals have ever apologised to Epstein’s victims for Andrew’s part in the serial trafficking and exploitation.

For further details on the Epstein Files, please read the Canary’s article on how the media circus around Epstein is erasing the experiences of victims and survivors.

Featured image via the Canary