Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is closing some of his last remaining business ventures, including Pitch@Palace Global Ltd, once seen as a potential source of private income, after the king withdrew financial support.
Pitch@Palace began as a Dragon’s Den-style initiative that allowed entrepreneurs to pitch start-up ideas to investors, backed by the then Duke of York. It attracted global attention and corporate sponsorship before collapsing under the weight of scandal following Mountbatten-Windsor’s association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A document filed with Companies House on Tuesday confirmed that Pitch@Palace Global has applied for the company to be struck off and dissolved. The application, signed by the company’s sole director, accountant Arthur Lancaster, stated that there were no outstanding debts or other impediments to closure.
Lancaster, who has long served as a business partner to Doug Barrowman and Baroness Michelle Mone – both embroiled in a high-profile dispute over a pandemic PPE deal – is understood to be holding the company’s shares on Mountbatten-Windsor’s behalf. The former prince remains listed as a person of significant control under his previous title.
The UK arm of Pitch@Palace was dissolved in 2021 following the Newsnight interview, which resulted in Mountbatten-Windsor’s withdrawal from royal duties and the stripping of his official titles. However, the Pitch@Palace Global international department has remained open so far.
The company’s latest accounts show that cash reserves shrank from £220,990 to just £10,965 at the end of March, suggesting that most of the remaining funds have been withdrawn in recent years.
The project continued to cause controversy abroad. The Chinese company’s founder, Yang Tengbo, has been accused of espionage – allegations he denied – while a Dutch accelerator, Startup Bootcamp, briefly explored a deal to acquire the company in 2024, citing the “immense value” of its international network. This agreement later collapsed.
On the same day, a second company linked to Mountbatten-Windsor – Innovate Global Ltd – also applied to close. Lancaster is again listed as sole director. The company, which has no employees and minimal assets, was reportedly intended to serve as a reboot of Pitch@Palace’s international operations under a new brand.
The closures also mark Mountbatten-Windsor’s ongoing withdrawal from public and commercial life. Once considered a champion of innovation and entrepreneurship and the self-proclaimed royal entrepreneur-in-residence at the palace, his flagship initiative has now quietly come to an end.
It was also confirmed this week that his surname is officially rendered with a hyphen – Mountbatten-Windsor – matching the spelling first approved by the Privy Council in 1960.
