Will Prince Andrew become a ghost at the Christmas feast? Buckingham Palace remains in the dark over whether the disgraced duke will appear at King Charles’ pre-Christmas lunch

Buckingham Palace is yet to confirm whether Prince Andrew will appear at the king’s pre-Christmas lunch on Thursday.

Strangely, the Mail understands that the names of the Duke of York and his ex-wife Sarah remain on the guest list for a gala party for around 70 members of the royal family at Buckingham Palace.

Mr Andrew is alleged to have insisted that he had every right to be present. He is said to have told friends that he “should be there” and that since it was a family event, “why not go?”

Royal aides revealed on Monday that the duke had decided to “do the decent thing” and avoid embarrassing his brother by skipping next week’s official celebrations and walk to church at Sandringham amid the turmoil. I couldn’t hide the look of relief on my face. Regarding his relationship with Yang Tengbo, who is suspected of being a Chinese spy.

However, each year the monarch invites her extended family (aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, husbands and wives) who cannot come to Sandringham to a grand celebratory meal in London.

Sources today said it was still “unknown” whether the embattled royal family would show up, and that they may not know until they see who parks at the gates.

Meanwhile, senior royal aides are operating optimistically on the “valid assumption” that the duke will once again “see reason” and decide to “keep his head down.”

They chose what they described as the “gentleman’s choice” for Mr Sandringham, feeling his presence at “monarchy headquarters” would send “contradictory and confusing messages”. There is.

The lunch is not open to the public, but guests are usually photographed entering and exiting the palace gates.

Andrew could try to sneak in unnoticed, but sources told the Mail he would either enter through the front door or not go through at all, “preferably the latter”.

Privately, I have serious concerns about the depth of Andrew and Jan’s involvement. It has been revealed that Yang, who describes himself as “Prince Andrew’s special envoy”, has been appointed by the royal family to be in charge of the Dragons’ pitch at Palace China. Denstyle initiative that Duke took the cut.

Despite the judge questioning how the suspected spy became such a “close friend”, Andrew insisted he had done nothing wrong.

This follows concerns over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and the duke’s role as Britain’s official “trade ambassador”.

But the most damning recent revelation was the discovery by security services of communications from Yang’s “senior adviser” Dominic Hampshire in 2021.

Mr Hampshire highlighted the “strength” of the Duke’s relationship with his family, adding: “Aside from the Duke’s closest inner circle, you are sitting at the top of a tree that many people wish they could ride on.” .

Even more worryingly for palace officials, after meeting with Andrew, Mr. Hampshire said they had “wisely circumvented former private secretaries and found ways to carefully weed out those they did not fully trust.” ” he wrote.

Under your guidance, we found a way to get in and out of Windsor’s house without the authorities noticing. This refers to Andrew’s Berkshire home, Royal Lodge.

There is no clue who these people are or why they would try to bypass the guards and secretly let people into his house.

Investigations are ongoing into how Yang accessed Wang’s residence when he visited the Wang residence several times at Andrew’s invitation.