William Bortrick (born April 1973) is a British genealogist who is the owner, chairman and editor of

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

. He studied history at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and

Wolfson College, Cambridge Wolfson College () is a colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The majority of students at the college are postgraduate education, postgraduates. The college also a ...

. In September 2021,

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

's closest aide

Michael Fawcett Michael David Fawcett (born 6 November 1962) is a former senior valet to Charles, Prince of Wales who today consults on various royal projects. Career Royal household Fawcett began his service to the British royal family in 1981 as a footman ...

"stepped down temporarily" as chief executive of

The Prince's Foundation The Prince's Foundation (formerly the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture until 2001, the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment until 2012, and the Prince's Foundation for Building Community until 2018) is an educational charity est ...

, after an investigation by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' and the ''

Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...

'' reported that he "offered to help to secure a knighthood and British citizenship" for a Saudi tycoon, who donated £1.5m to Prince Charles's charities. Bortrick was named by the ''Sunday Times'' as the alleged fixer at the heart of the claims. Bortrick is said to have received thousands of pounds to secure the honour. According to the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

, at least two complaints were made calling for an investigation into whether Prince Charles or Michael Fawcett breached the

Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 The Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that makes the sale of peerages or any other honours illegal. The act was passed by the Parliament in the wake of David Lloyd George's 1922 cash-for- ...

. In February 2022 the

launched an investigation into the cash-for-honours allegations linked to Charles' charity The Prince's Foundation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bortrick, William 1973 births Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of Wolfson College, Cambridge British genealogists