Peter Ball, a former Anglican bishop and protégé of Britain’s royal family who was convicted of sexually abusing 16 boys and young men over 15 years, died on June 21 in Taunton, in southwest England. He was 87.

His death, at Musgrove Park Hospital, was announced by church officials. No cause was given.

“Our prayers and thoughts are with everyone affected by this news,” said the Rev. Peter Hancock, a bishop of the Church of England.

Mr. Ball had a sprawling network of well-positioned friends, among them Prince Charles, who provided him housing on one of his estates.

Those powerful friends helped reinstate Mr. Ball to the ministry in 1993 after he had admitted to an act of gross indecency, as described under the law, with a 19-year-old man and accepted a police caution, which allowed him at first to avoid a criminal trial.