As the nation prepares to sit down with their nearest and, ahem, sometimes not so dearest this season of Goodwill, the King is facing a particularly vexing Christmas conundrum.
What on earth to do about his bothersome brother, Prince Andrew, whose issues seem to pop up like a particularly bad bout of the annual festive flu.
For the truth is the King doesn’t want to have to go so far as to ban Prince Andrew from joining the rest of the Royal Family for the much-loved Sandringham church visit and walkabout.
He is, at the end of the day, his brother: he can’t divorce him or, indeed, prevent him from seeing other family members.
Friends suggest Andrew must know his presence will put Charles in a very awkward position
But he is desperately hoping the Duke of York will ‘do the decent thing’ and ‘recuse’ himself from joining them at Sandringham to spare the rest of the family further embarrassment following his latest, potentially politically damaging, scandal – having a suspected Chinese ‘spy’ as a ‘close confidant’ and business adviser.
As it stands, I am told, Andrew is due to join them in Norfolk next week for the festive gathering.
He and his ever-expanding family had been expected to take over Wood Farm on the royal estate.
They will then join the rest 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.
Now, engulfed in yet another furore of his own making, pressure is being placed on the duke to ‘see sense’. Charles, 76, is in an invidious position after what has been an incredibly difficult year for himself, and for his family, given his and the Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses and his wife Camilla’s recent bout of pneumonia.
This year’s gathering was planned to be one of the biggest in recent memory, with even Camilla’s children invited to acknowledge the challenges of the last 12 months and their hopes for a happier 2025. Friends suggest Andrew, 64, must know his presence will put His Majesty in a very awkward position.
If he allows him to attend it will be tantamount to putting his arm around his brother’s shoulder in a very visible manner just days after he became embroiled in an explosive suspected spy scandal.
But to ‘ban’ him would be the equivalent to a public excommunication – and with the apron strings finally cut, who knows what the duke might do next?
Andrew will, I understand, still have the chance – should he so wish – to see his family at the private pre-Christmas lunch the King throws his extended family (the cousins, nieces and nephews who don’t make the cut to Norfolk) this week. But a discreet entrance and exit, at least, would be appreciated.
And after that? Well, sources say, surely it is a matter for that much-vaunted sense of ‘honour’ Andrew told us he had during his infamous 2019 interview in the wake of the Epstein scandal and to politely withdraw from royal festivities.
His family would certainly be grateful for it, I suspect, and he might even earn some respect.
The same applies to his insistence in remaining in Royal Lodge. It is absolutely true he holds a ‘cast iron’ lease on the property, as the duke’s friends like to brief. The King has no legal right whatsoever to kick him out.
Andrew with Sarah, Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mozzi at Sandringham last year
But they are deeply concerned that Andrew’s ‘obstinacy’ in keeping such a money pit has placed him in a position of financial jeopardy where he is being forced to go round, cap in hand, just to keep himself afloat.
As we know, His Majesty has offered him Frogmore Cottage, which has the added benefit of falling within Windsor Castle’s ‘ring of steel’, meaning Andrew’s security would also be covered.
The duke has flatly rejected this attempt to get him to downsize, even in face of the King’s
decision to strip him of both his annual stipend (the financial allowance previously paid to him by the late Queen out of her private fortune) as well as his remaining security.
Both, I understand, would be re-instated should he choose to take up the offer of Frogmore.
Will the ‘spy’ scandal change matters? Who knows, but the King clearly hopes so.
If the duke has any hope of rehabilitation, many believe he should graciously take his brother’s remaining olive branch over his living arrangements, and withdraw from family events.
Starting with a polite declining of turkey and stuffing next week.
