Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor winds up Pitch@Palace and remaining business interests

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is shutting down some of his final 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 allowing entrepreneurs to pitch start-up ideas to investors, backed by the then Duke of York. It attracted global attention and corporate sponsors 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 to be struck off the register and dissolved. The application, signed by the firm’s sole director, accountant Arthur Lancaster, declared that there were no outstanding debts or other obstacles to closure.

Lancaster, who has long acted as a business associate of Doug Barrowman and Baroness Michelle Mone — both embroiled in a high-profile dispute over a pandemic PPE deal — is understood to hold the company’s shares on behalf of Mountbatten-Windsor. The former prince remains listed as a person with significant control, under his previous title.

Pitch@Palace’s UK arm was wound up in 2021 after the Newsnight interview that prompted Mountbatten-Windsor’s withdrawal from royal duties and the removal of his official titles. However, its international division, Pitch@Palace Global, had remained open until now.

The company’s most recent accounts show cash reserves dwindling from £220,990 to just £10,965 by the end of March, suggesting that most of the remaining funds have been withdrawn in recent years.

The venture had continued to generate controversy abroad. The Chinese arm’s founder, Yang Tengbo, was accused of espionage — allegations he denied — while a Dutch accelerator, Startup Bootcamp, briefly explored a deal to acquire the business in 2024, citing “immense value” in its international network. That agreement later fell through.

On the same day, a second company linked to Mountbatten-Windsor — Innovate Global Ltd — also filed for closure. Lancaster is again listed as the sole director. The firm, 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 further mark Mountbatten-Windsor’s continued retreat from public and commercial life. Once billed as a champion for innovation and entrepreneurship and the self styled 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 will formally be rendered with a hyphen — Mountbatten-Windsor — aligning with the spelling first approved by the Privy Council in 1960.

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor winds up Pitch@Palace and remaining business interests