Prince Andrew jets off skiing - but who's paying the £39,000 chalet bill?

Stock photo: Rex

Prince Andrew jetted off for a few days of skiing and royal appointments this week, and his eight-bedroom chalet will reportedly cost the taxpayer £39,000.

According to the report in the Daily Mail, he attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, where he gave a dinner for Indonesian businessman and held a meeting with Azerbaijan's billionaire dictator Ilham Aliyev.

Some critics have asked the question why he jetted out to do so six months after he stepped down as the UK's trade envoy.

Shadow Justice Minister Chris Bryant told the paper: "I thought we had dispensed with his services. There were plenty of UK representatives who could have all met with Aliyev if it was in our national interests.

"At a time when everybody is feeling the pinch, it's shocking Prince Andrew still thinks he should be entitled to an eight-bedroom mansion."

The prince managed to fit in six hours on the piste in Klosters on Saturday, before returning to his luxury chalet, which has its own sauna, steam room, chef and chauffeur.

A spokesman for the palace said Andrew had been invited to the forum and attended in his capacity as a senior member of the Royal Family, adding: "His role is to continue to support UK business and travel overseas as a senior member of the family, and visits which were already in the diary will be kept. He will be relinquishing it gradually."

According to the Mirror, the Duke is believed to have been lobbying on behalf of UK firms to secure contracts on a planned £9.5bn pipeline to the Shah Deniz gas and oil field in the Caspian Sea, which would break a Russian stranglehold on UK fuel supplies.

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