Prince Andrew’s absence casts shadow over King Charles’s royal pre-Christmas lunch

King Charles’s traditional pre-Christmas lunch faces being overshadowed by the last-minute withdrawal of Prince Andrew as he continues to be dogged by his connection to an alleged Chinese spy.

The Duke of York was counselled by his ex-wife and friend Sarah, Duchess of York, to skip Thursday’s gathering at Buckingham Palace hosted by his brother, according to sources.

The move is another embarrassing moment for the Andrew, who has already withdrawn from joining senior royals at Sandringham for the festive period.

Held at Buckingham Palace, the lunch is a private event for senior royals and their wider family who will not be attending Christmas celebrations at Charles’s Sandringham home.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will also not be in attendance on Thursday as they are already in Norfolk with their three children, They will spend time with the family in Sandringham over Christmas as usual.

Sarah Ferguson urged Andrew to avoid the official festivities, a source said, which also meant giving up her own chance to return to Sandringham for Christmas again having spent many years out of the royal fold.

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The Duchess of York only rejoined the annual royal Christmas walk last year, for the first time since her divorce from Andrew in 1996.

It’s believed she stepped in after King Charles and Queen Camilla privately urged Andrew to “see sense” and withdraw from Thursday’s gathering as the PR crisis continues to roll on.

Both his children Princes Beatrice and Princess Eugenie already had plans to spend Christmas with their respective in-laws for the first time this year, potentially making it an easier decision.

Andrew’s connection with alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo was revealed in a High Court hearing this week.

Mr Yang, who was banned from the UK, was said to have been a “close” confidant of Andrew.

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Mr Yang was named after an anonymity order was lifted on Monday and has insisted it was “entirely untrue” to claim he was involved in espionage and that he has “done nothing wrong or unlawful”.

The businessman 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.

Last 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, has largely disappeared from public life since stepping down from official duties in 2019 following the furore over his friendship with convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew’s status as a member of the royal family was left in tatters three years later when the Queen stripped him of his honorary military roles, remaining royal patronages and he gave up his HRH style in a dramatic fallout from a US civil sex case brought against him.

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The legal process ended when he paid millions to settle the civil sexual assault case with Virginia Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met and who was trafficked by Epstein.

The duke 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.

Andrew carried on joining the royal family for Christmas Day, and last year walked from Sandringham House to church with the other royals – seen as symbolic of his gradual rehabilitation within the family but it remains to be seen if he will return to the fold.