A Prince, a Financer... And A Very Private Bank

Prince Andrew’s friendship with David Rowland gave cachet to Banque Havilland, a Luxembourg lender that wooed sketchy clients in high places

- By Gavin Finch and Harry Wilson

It isn’t much fun these days being Prince Andrew, eighth in line to the British throne. Last year he was grounded by his mother, the queen, after a disastrous TV interview about his links to the late money manager and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The prince rarely leaves the confines of Windsor Great Park, where he lives in a 30-room house, and he hasn’t made a public statement in months. When he does communicate, it’s through lawyers sparring with U.S. prosecutors who want to question him.

But Epstein is only the most infamous wealthy financier the prince has had dealings with. There’s another one the public knows less about. For years, Andrew acted as an unofficial door opener for David Rowland and his private bank in Luxembourg, Banque Havilland SA, according to a trove of emails, internal documents, and previously unreported regulatory filings reviewed by Bloomberg Businessweek, as well as interviews with 10 former bank insiders. His royal cachet and his role as the U.K.’s special representative for international trade and investment until 2011 helped the Rowland family pitch their services to potential clients from the ranks of the world’s dictators and kleptocrats.