The Duke of York is to stay away from the royal family’s traditional Christmas gathering at Sandringham this year amid the controversy surrounding his links to an alleged Chinese spy.
Andrew will miss what was expected to be one of the largest festive events at his brother, the King’s private Norfolk estate, where 45 members of their family had been expected to spend Christmas Day.
The duke has hit the headlines once again this week after a High Court hearing revealed alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo, who was banned from the UK, was said to have been a “close” confidant of Andrew.
The duke’s ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York will also miss Christmas at Sandringham, in what will be seen as a show of solidarity for her former husband.
The pair are said to be preparing to spend the day together at Royal Lodge, the home they still share in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire.
It is not yet known whether the duke will attend Charles’s traditional pre-Christmas lunch for the extended family at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, who have young families, had already planned to spend Christmas with their respective in-laws this year for the first time, sources said.
Mr Yang, who was named after an anonymity order was lifted on Monday, has insisted it was “entirely untrue” to claim he was involved in espionage and that he has “done nothing wrong or unlawful”.
The businessman, previously referred to only as H6 in the legal case, was the founder-partner of the Chinese arm of the duke’s Pitch@Palace initiative, and twice visited Buckingham Palace in 2018 to meet with the late Queen’s second son.
He is also said to have entered St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle at Andrew’s invitation.
It has been reported the King was briefed by the intelligence services about his brother’s links to Mr Yang, who also goes by the name Christopher Yang.
The King was said to have been hoping the duke would make the decision to miss Sandringham to prevent Charles and the royal family facing any further embarrassment, with Andrew urged by insiders to “to do the decent thing”.
On Friday, the duke’s office said Andrew “ceased all contact” with the then-unnamed businessman when concerns were first raised about him.
Andrew met Mr Yang through “official channels” with “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed”, a statement said.
The duke, now 64, disappeared from public life since stepping down from official duties in 2019, but he carried on joining the royal family for Christmas Day.
Last year, he walked from Sandringham House to church with the other royals – seen as symbolic in his gradual rehabilitation within the family.
After the service, the duke laughed and threw up his hands as he joked with well-wishers, and was joined by his ex-wife duchess, who made a return to the royal fold after missing Sandringham for a number of decades.
In 2019, Andrew skipped the traditional walk to church with the rest of the royal family, keeping a low profile after the furore over his friendship with convicted US paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
He was stepped away from his public role and later paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Virginia Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.
In his disastrous Newsnight interview, he said he “did not regret” his friendship with Epstein, who had trafficked Ms Giuffre, and was heavily criticised for failing to show sympathy with the sex offender’s victims.
The duke, reputedly Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite child, announced at the time he would be “stepping back from public duties for the foreseeable future” and disappeared from a string of high-profile national events involving the monarchy.
Andrew’s status as a member of the royal family was left in tatters when the Queen later stripped him of his honorary military roles, remaining royal patronages and he gave up his HRH style in a dramatic fallout from his civil sex case.
He no longer attends Trooping the Colour, Remembrance Sunday commemorations at the Cenotaph or the annual Commonwealth Day service.
But he was at the King’s coronation, and is still a member of the Order of the Garter, taking part in the senior order of chivalry’s annual service behind closed doors, but does not appear in the public procession.
It was set to be a bumper year for the royals at Sandringham this December, with the Windsors out in force after a “brutal” 2024″, when the King and the Princess of Wales, and Sarah, Duchess of York, were all diagnosed with cancer.
The Prince of Wales revealed 45 people had been invited as he chatted to soldiers and their families about his plans when he visited the 1st Battalion Mercian Regiment in Wiltshire last week.
Queen Camilla’s son, food writer Tom Parker Bowles also revealed he is on the guest list for the first time.
But with Andrew and Sarah, as well as Beatrice and Eugenie and their families, not attending, the numbers will be lower than expected.
Mr Yang challenged his ban on entering the UK at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in July, but lost his appeal last week.
