Royal sources said Prince Andrew needed to do the “right thing” and disinvite him from the royal family’s annual Christmas lunch and Christmas parade to avoid a difficult decision for the monarch.
The disgraced duke will attend the annual Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, before taking part in the traditional walk from Sandringham to St Magdalene’s Church on Christmas Day in front of a large crowd of onlookers.
But insiders have suggested that Andrew should choose to step back to avoid embarrassment, with Rebecca English, the Daily Mail’s royal editor, predicting that the king will be married to the duke this Christmas. He revealed that he desperately wants to stay away from him.
On Thursday, Prince Andrew became the subject of further scandal after it was revealed that an “aide” to the Duke of York is a suspected Chinese spy who has been banned from entering the UK following an investigation by MI5.
The alleged agent, identified only as H6, was so close to Andrew that he visited Buckingham Palace twice and also entered St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle.
The King is believed to be furious that Prince Andrew has plunged the royal family into yet another scandal.
Prince Charles wants His Majesty to take matters into his own hands and ask his brother to make the decision to step back from public life, rather than banning him from all public events this festive season. It is said that he thinks so.
Now Andrew, along with his ex-wife Sarah, daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and their children, will join the rest of his family in Norfolk for Christmas.
Prince Andrew (pictured at Sandringham in 2022) faces calls to be disinvited from this year’s Royal Christmas celebrations
King Charles and Queen Camilla led their family to a church service on Christmas Day in Sandringham, Norfolk, last year, but Andrew has been urged to stay home this year.
Prince Andrew poses for photo with Chinese spy suspect he invited to Buckingham Palace
They will be staying at Wood Farm, a large property on the property.
After that, in keeping with Germanic tradition, the remaining 45-plus people are expected to join the gathering privately, exchange presents on Christmas Eve, and then join for lunch on Christmas Day. I will be walking to church in public in the morning.
Prince Andrew, 64, has been taking part in Christmas morning walks with other family members for the past two years since the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, despite other controversies including his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
However, things may be different this year as the king’s fury has been revealed and the alleged affair has damaged the reputation of the royal family as a whole.
But a source said that despite his dissatisfaction with the Duke of York, Prince Charles accepted that he could not “divorce or dismiss” his brother because “the bond of blood will always be there”.
Sources said Andrew was being asked to make his own decision to avoid King Charles banning his brother’s engagement.
A royal source told The Sun newspaper: “It’s bound to be a very awkward conversation and the King won’t want to mess with his brother.”
Andrew’s friends suggested that King Charles should be aware that his attendance at such events would put him in an awkward position.
King Charles (right) is believed to be furious over his brother Prince Andrew (left)’s relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, which risks damaging the royal family’s reputation.
Friends suggest that Andrew must have known that his presence would put Charles in a very awkward position.
Andrew and Sarah, Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mozzi at Sandringham last year
The suspected spy is a businessman who previously attended meetings of the powerful Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing.
As a sign of his importance to the Chinese Communist Party, he was photographed in the front row of meetings in the vast Great Hall of the People.
The businessman has lost his appeal against a decision to ban him from entering the UK on national security grounds.
He brought the case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then Home Secretary Suela Braverman said he should be removed from the UK in March 2023.
Judges told the Home Secretary in July 2023 that officials said H6 created a relationship between a British public figure and a senior Chinese official that “could be used for purposes of political interference”. He reportedly claimed that he was in a position.
He also said that Mr. H6 downplays his relationship with the Chinese state, which, combined with his relationship with Prince Andrew, poses a threat to national security.
It is unclear when Spy H6 first came into contact with the Duke of York about business opportunities in China, but the Home Office told immigration officials there was a “secret and confidential” element to the relationship.
The former civil servant quickly became one of Andrew’s closest mentors. Dominic Hampshire, the duke’s senior adviser, told H6 in 2020 that the strength of his relationship with Andrew “should never be underestimated”.
However, the alleged friend apparently returned to China and was given instructions on what to do with Andrew.
After being stopped at the UK border in November 2021, H6 strongly denied any links to the Chinese Communist Party, saying it “avoids getting involved in politics as there is no room for business”, according to court documents.
The scandal is just the latest humiliation for Prince Andrew, already an outcast in the royal family after being forced to step back from palace duties in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile scandal.
Prince Andrew took part in the annual Royal Land Walk with his family in 2011
Earlier this year, the king stopped paying his brother’s £3 million a year security bill at Royal Lodge (pictured), prompting him to move to more modest accommodation. However, in November it emerged that the duke had been allowed to stay, provided he had enough money to support himself.
The duke stepped back from senior royal duties at the end of 2019 following public outrage over a BBC television interview in which he defended his friendship with Epstein.
In February 2022, a U.S. civil lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17 years old, was settled.
Andrew has denied all allegations of cheating.
Shortly after, Queen Elizabeth stripped him of his honorary military title and patronage, effectively banning him from royal life.
Earlier this year, the king stopped paying his brother’s Royal Lodge’s £3 million a year security fee, prompting him to move to more modest accommodation.
However, in November it emerged that the duke had been allowed to stay on the property after convincing palace authorities that he had secured enough funds to support himself.
The keeper of the secret purse, Sir Michael Stevens, reportedly approved that the funding came from legitimate sources. But last week’s revelations raised new questions about where exactly Andrew found the money to stay at the Windsor mansion.
It is understood that because his tenancy agreement is with the Crown Estate rather than the Crown, he has the same rights and responsibilities as a private tenant.