Buckingham Palace official awarded Member of the Royal Victorian Order on £100k bribes charge

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Ronald Harper, 61, is accused of taking kickbacks for handing out contracts
It is alleged he accepted tens of thousands in exchange for favouring firms
Two of these firms later received prestigious Royal Warrants

Published: 18:00 EST, 28 July 2014 | Updated: 18:25 EST, 28 July 2014

The Queen’s former deputy property manager has been charged with taking more than £100,000 in kickbacks for royal contracts funded by the taxpayer.

Ronald Harper, 61, one of the most senior members of the Royal Household staff, is accused of taking bribes from directors of building, heating and energy firms.

In return, he is said to have handed out huge contracts for mechanical and electrical work at Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and Kensington Palace.

The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace: The Queen's former deputy property manager has been charged with taking more than £100,000 in kickbacks to award contracts ultimately funded by taxpayers

Harper, who was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order by the Queen in 2004, is alleged to have corruptly accepted gifts of tens of thousands of pounds over nearly six years in return for favouring a number of firms supplying air conditioning, boilers and other electrical services at ‘inflated prices’.

It is a hugely embarrassing development for the Queen as the Royal Household has been criticised for leaving palaces to crumble after years of complacency.

The multi-million pound works were for the London homes of Prince Harry, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.

They were paid for out of the public purse through a government grant that covers the upkeep of royal palaces.

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Harper – who was suspended by the Royal Household in 2012 – was arrested by Leicestershire Police after it uncovered an alleged scam involving nine men and a woman. They included the directors of three companies awarded the large contracts. Two of these firms later received prestigious Royal Warrants. One energy company is even said to have provided Harper with an oil tank and boiler system for his home free of charge.

It is alleged that between 2006 and 2011, a number of company directors bribed Ron Harper in return for large contracts

CPS spokesman Luke Bulpitt

Luke Bulpitt, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said it had ‘authorised charges against nine men and a woman in connection with alleged fraudulent activity concerning property management at the royal palaces’.

He added: ‘It is alleged that between 2006 and 2011, a number of company directors bribed Ron Harper ... in return for him awarding them large contracts.’

Harper and nine co-defendants are due to appear before Westminster magistrates today.

He is charged with four counts of conspiracy to give and receive corrupt payments.

A relative of Harper, Alan Rollinson, is also charged with one count of converting or transferring criminal property.

Corruption in the Royal Household: Ronald Harper, 61, is said to have handed out huge contracts for mechanical and electrical work at Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and Kensington Palace, pictured

In an article on the Royal Family’s website, Harper boasted of keeping down high electric bills at Buckingham Palace.

He said: ‘Every five years, issues relating to the efficient running of the household’s heat and power supplies are reviewed by the team here at Buckingham Palace, meaning that energy efficiency within the Royal Household is constantly under a process of scrutiny and improvement.’ A computerised building management system controls heating and power, even regulating the fans in the palace kitchen.

Ahead of the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Harper also bragged of the benefits of Buckingham Palace’s combined heat and power units for energy and the LED technology it was installing in candelabras.

He claimed that a boiler firm he had selected had reduced the palace’s annual energy bill by eight per cent. But police believe a number of the contracts he handed out to firms promising to use renewable energy involved corrupt payments.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment last night.

A Member of the Royal Victorian Order is given by the Queen to people who have served her or the Monarchy in a personal way.