In a statement from his office, Andrew, also known as the Duke of York, said he accepted government advice and ceased all contact with the Chinese national as soon as concerns were raised.

Questions have been raised over the prince's relationship with a Chinese businessman alleged to be a spy who was later banned from the UK.

A London immigration court upheld a ban on a Chinese citizen described as a “close confidant” of the prince’s, on the grounds of national security.

A statement from the Duke of York's office said the pair had met through "official channels" and had never discussed anything of a "sensitive nature".

A Chinese businessman described as a "close confidant" of the Duke of York has lost an appeal against a decision to bar him from the UK on national security grounds. The man, known only as H6, brought the case after being banned from entering the country in March 2023 by the then-Home Secretary, Suella Braverman.

The man was banned from entering the UK in 2023 after the country's former interior ministry found he had engaged in "covert and deceptive activity".

Prince Andrew claimed he ceased contact with businessman H6, accused of being a Chinese spy, upon raised concerns.

A former UK security minister said Friday that it was "extremely embarrassing" that a suspected Chinese spy had become a confidant of disgraced royal Prince Andrew.

A friend of Prince Andrew’s who was invited to his birthday party and tried to raise money for him has been unmasked as an alleged Chinese spy. The shocking revelation will cast new doubt on Andrew’s murky finances just weeks after Buckingham Palace gave his accounts a clean bill of health and said his funds came from legitimate sources.