King’s conundrum amid fears stubborn Prince Andrew will still attend family Christmas lunch and will parade in front of crowds at Sandringham despite ‘Chinese spy’ scandal: Royal insiders hope Duke will ‘do the right thing’ and uninvite himself
Prince Andrew should ‘do the right thing’ and uninvite himself from the Royal Family’s annual Christmas lunch and parade over the festive period, to avoid a difficult decision for the King, royal insiders have said.
The disgraced duke is due to attend an annual Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace on Thursday and then the traditional walk from Sandringham to St Magdalene Church on Christmas Day in front of a crowd of onlookers.
However insiders have suggested that Andrew should choose to step aside to avoid a potential embarrassment, with the Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English revealing how the King desperately hopes the Duke will ‘do the right thing’ and stay away this Christmas.
On Thursday, Prince Andrew became the subject of yet another scandal when it was revealed that a ‘close confidant’ of the Duke of York was an alleged Chinese spy who has been banned from entering the UK after an investigation by MI5.
The alleged agent, who can be named only as H6, was so close to Andrew that he visited Buckingham Palace twice, and entered St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle.
The King is understood to be furious that Prince Andrew has yet again plunged the Royal Family into another scandal.
Charles is said to want his younger brother to make his own decision to step aside from public appearances, instead of forcing His Majesty to take matters into his own hands and axe him from all public-facing events this festive season.
Currently Andrew is due to join the rest of his family in Norfolk for Christmas, alongside his ex-wife and daughters Princess Beatrice and Eugenie and their children.
Prince Andrew (pictured at Sandringham in 2022) is facing calls to uninvite himself from this year’s royal Christmas celebrations
King Charles and Queen Camilla are seen leading the family for a Christmas Day church service last year in Sandringham, Norfolk – Andrew is being urged to stay away this year
Prince Andrew pictured with the alleged Chinese spy who he invited to Buckingham Palace
They are expected to stay in Wood Farm, a large property on the estate.
He is then still expected to join the rest of the of the 45-strong gathering privately, according to Germanic tradition, to exchange gifts on Christmas Eve and then for Christmas Day lunch, which involves a very public walk to church in the morning.
Prince Andrew, 64, has joined the rest of the family on the Christmas morning walk for the last two years since the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, despite other controversies including his friendship with Jeffery Epstein.
But things could be different this year amid revelations of the King’s fury – with the alleged relationship tarnishing the reputation of the entire Royal Family.
A source, however, said that, despite his frustration with the Duke of York, Charles has accepted that he can’t ‘divorce or sack’ his younger brother, as ‘there will always be a bond of blood’.
Insiders have said Andrew is being urged to make the decision himself to avoid making King Charles having to ban his brother from the engagements.
A royal insider told The Sun: ‘There would inevitably have to be some very awkward conversations and the King would not relish making his brother squirm.’
Friends of Andrew suggested that he must know his presence at such events will put King Charles in an awkward position.
King Charles (right) is understood to be furious over his brother Prince Andrew’s (left) links to an alleged Chinese spy, which risks tarnishing the reputation of the Royal Family
Friends suggest Andrew must know his presence will put Charles in a very awkward position
Andrew with Sarah, Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mozzi at Sandringham last year
The alleged spy, who is a businessman, has previously attended a meeting of the powerful Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing.
In a sign of his importance to China’s Communist Party, he was pictured on the front row of the meeting in the vast Great Hall of the People.
The businessman lost an appeal over a decision to bar him from entering the UK on national security grounds.
He brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then-home secretary Suella Braverman said he should be excluded from the UK in March 2023.
Judges were told that in a briefing for the home secretary in July 2023, officials claimed H6 had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials ‘that could be leveraged for political interference purposes’.
They also said that H6 had downplayed his relationship with the Chinese state, which combined with his relationship with Prince Andrew represented a threat to national security.
It is not known when the spy H6 first made contact with the Duke of York about business opportunities in China, but the Home Office told immigration judges the relationship had a ‘covert and clandestine’ element.
The former civil servant soon became one of Andrew’s closest mentors. Dominic Hampshire, a senior adviser to the duke, told H6 in 2020 he should ‘never underestimate the strength’ of his relationship with Andrew.
But the supposed friend was apparently reporting back to China and receiving instructions on how to handle Andrew.
After being stopped at the UK border in November 2021, court documents say H6 vehemently denied having links to the CCP, saying he ‘avoids getting involved in politics as it has no space in business’.
The scandal is just the latest humiliation for Prince Andrew who is already a royal pariah after being forced to step back from palace duties following the Jeffrey Epstein paedophile scandal.
Prince Andrew joins his family on the annual walk on the Royal Estate back in 2011
Earlier this year, the King stopped paying his brother’s £3 million-a-year security bill at Royal Lodge (pictured) and urged him to move into more modest accommodation. But it emerged in November the Duke had been allowed to stay after securing enough funds to support himself
The Duke withdrew from frontline royal duties in late 2019 after public outrage over a BBC television interview in which he defended his friendship with Epstein.
In February 2022, he settled a US civil case brought by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
Andrew denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Queen Elizabeth II stripped him of his honorary military titles and patronages soon afterwards, effectively shutting him out of royal life.
Earlier this year, the King stopped paying his brother’s £3million-a-year security bill at Royal Lodge and urged him to move into more modest accommodation.
But in November, it emerged that the Duke had been allowed to stay at the property after convincing Palace authorities that he had secured enough funds to support himself.
The Keeper of the Privy Purse, Sir Michael Stevens, reportedly approved the financing as coming from legitimate sources. Last week’s revelations, however, raise fresh questions about where exactly Andrew has found the money to bankroll his stay at the Windsor mansion.
It is understood that because his leasehold agreement is with the Crown Estate, and not the Royal Household, he has the same rights and responsibilities as any private tenant.
