Andrew Mountbatten Windsor organised a private tour of Buckingham Palace for businessmen from a cryptocurrency firm who agreed to pay Sarah Ferguson up to £1.4million.

Entrepreneurs Jay Bloom and Michael Evers were driven through the palace gates in the former duke’s car while the late Queen was in residence.

 

Revealed by the BBC, the pair were greeted and escorted inside the palace, with Mr Evers claiming they then met the late Queen, but Mr Bloom has disputed this.

Their company, Pegasus Group Holdings, which Mr Bloom co-founded, employed Ms Ferguson as a “brand ambassador” for a crypto-mining scheme which ended up losing investors millions of pounds.

Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew

Andrew and Fergie hosted Jay Bloom and Michael Evers while the late Queen resided at Buckingham Palace.

 | PA

The businessmen were invited by Andrew to his Pitch@Palace event at St James’s Palace later that day.

They then dined that evening with the former prince, Fergie and their daughter Princess Beatrice.

Ms Ferguson worked with Pegasus Group Holdings during the palace visit, promoting plans to use solar power generators to mine Bitcoin in the Arizona desert.

The project fell through with only 615 of the planned 16,000 generators acquired and just $33,779 (£26,677) in cryptocurrency mined.

Sarah Ferguson, Jay Bloom, Princess Beatrice

Mr Bloom’s company agreed to pay Fergie up to £1.4million.| FACEBOOK

The revelations add to the growing questions about how Andrew and his ex-wife funded their lifestyle, amid concerns about their business connections.

Fergie was paid more than £200,000 for her work with the company, and a leaked contract revealed she was in line for a separate bonus worth £1.2million.

She also received a stake in the business, with her contract stating she had to travel in first class, stay in five-star hotels and have a professional hairdresser and make-up artist for “networking events”.

Mr Bloom first met Ms Ferguson in May 2018, when she was at a convention in Las Vegas promoting one of her children’s books.

Jay Bloom invite card/

The businessmen were invited by Andrew to his Pitch@Palace event.

 | FACEBOOK

The pair discussed business and struck up a friendship.

A couple of months later, Fergie was introduced to Mr Evers, a former actor and reality TV star who had made money from cryptocurrency investments.

Mr Evers said he got to know Ms Ferguson and met with Andrew, Princess Beatrice, and many of their family.

He stated: “We were there once a month for a week to two weeks at a time and every time the relationships just kind of grew stronger and stronger.

Jay Bloom

Mr Bloom (pictured) first met Ms Ferguson in May 2018.| FACEBOOK

“They started offering tours of different places, I guess like behind the scenes or I don’t know what you’d call it.

“[They] wanted to introduce us to more and more people.”

As well as a tour of Buckingham Palace, the pair also visited Royal Lodge, which Andrew and Fergie will vacate after Christmas.

GB News has contacted Andrew and Ms Ferguson’s teams for comment.