Prince Andrew mentor scheme at risk as firms withdraw support

The future of Prince Andrew’s business mentoring initiative is in doubt after corporate backers severed ties or said they were reviewing links as pressure piled on the royal after his disastrous BBC interview about the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

On Tuesday, Standard Chartered became the latest firm to withdraw its support from Pitch@Palace – which claims to have generated more than 6,000 jobs. The day before it had emerged that KPMG would not be renewing its sponsorship, which ended on 31 October.

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While other supporters are reviewing their involvement after the Duke of York defended his friendship with the late Epstein, sources at one suggested that the enterprise could continue if the prince made way for another royal.

“They are not going to stop Pitch@Palace because it’s been so successful. It could well go on without him if, for example, they parachuted in Prince William or Harry to take over,” they told the Guardian.

However, the initiative, which involves entrepreneurs competing for the chance to pitch to influential business figures at settings including Buckingham Palace, appeared to be in crisis after removing a web page listing corporate supporters. The insurance broker Aon said it had asked for its logo to be removed from the site.

A Standard Chartered spokesperson said: “I can confirm that we will not be renewing our sponsorship of Pitch@Palace when it expires at the end of the year.”

Founded by Andrew in 2014, the initiative claims to have generated more than £1.1bn in global economic activity and covers 62 countries.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “KPMG’s sponsorship contract with Pitch@Palace finished at the end of October. A full programme of Pitch@Palace events is continuing across the United Kingdom.”

It also emerged on Tuesday that a BBC interview with Virginia Giuffre – one of Epstein’s victims who alleges a sexual encounter took place with Andrew when she was 17, a claim the prince denies – will be part of a Panorama investigation into the US financier.

Sources close to Giuffre, whose surname was Roberts when she was allegedly being trafficked from the US, said she was “furious” her interview had not yet been broadcast. The Guardian understands the plan is for the complete Panorama to be shown at the end of December.

On Monday a US woman who claims Epstein committed a “vicious, prolonged sexual assault” against her when she was 15, called for Prince Andrew to come forward with information about the financier, who was found dead in a jail cell in August while being held on child sex trafficking charges.

Amid other fallout from the prince’s interview, the University of Huddersfield said it would consult its student body over the prince’s position as chancellor after a students’ union panel voted unanimously to lobby for the duke’s resignation from the post.

The panel approved a motion calling for Andrew’s removal from his ceremonial post and stating: “We need to put survivors of sexual assault above royal connections and show students, alumni and prospective students that this institution cares about their wellbeing, irrespective of the status of the alleged perpetrator.”

A spokesperson for the university said: “We listen to our students’ views and concerns and we will now be consulting with them over the coming weeks.”

Tristan Smith, the third-year student who tabled the motion in October, said: “[Prince Andrew] should have the moral integrity to condemn what Epstein has done, and he hasn’t. There is not enough accountability. These are values my academic institution should hold, so I would hope the university would listen to the students.”

The prince, 59, has faced a growing backlash since his TV interview with Emily Maitlis on Saturday night.

The former Labour MP Chuka Umunna, now a candidate for the Liberal Democrats, called Andrew “a complete disgrace” on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, while the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, told Sky News: “I think he should cooperate with all the authorities and make sure justice is served.”

The former Downing Street director of communications Alastair Campbell said he thought the royal’s BBC interview had been “a mistake”.

He told the Today programme that Andrew’s “manner was really wrong” and “he didn’t really have answers to some of the very, very difficult questions”.

The Outward Bound Trust, of which the duke is patron, said it would hold a board meeting in the next few days to discuss issues raised by the interview. The Golf Foundation released a statement describing Andrew as a “valued patron” but added that it was monitoring the situation closely and would discuss it with stakeholders and trustees.