The Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, have shelved plans to join the royal family at Sandringham on Christmas Day after Prince Andrew was named as an associate of an alleged Chinese “spy”.
Palace insiders had told The Times that Andrew, 64, should “do the decent thing” and stay away from public festivities to avoid any further embarrassment for the King.
A court named Andrew last week as a close confidant of Yang Tengbo, the alleged agent whose anonymity order was lifted on Monday.
During the case it was revealed that Dominic Hampshire, a senior aide to Andrew, had written to tell Yang that he sat “at the very top of the tree” of the duke’s contacts.
On another occasion Hampshire said they had “wisely navigated our way around former private secretaries and we have found a way to carefully remove those people who we don’t completely trust”. He added: “Under your guidance, we find a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor.”
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The King is understood to have been alerted of his brother’s connections to Yang through “the appropriate channels”. Yang used the name Christopher and was codenamed H6 before being named in court.
Andrew has not appeared alongside working members of the royal family at official events for years but would normally join private family gatherings, including the Christmas Day walk to church at Sandringham.
Last year Andrew was joined at Sandringham by the duchess in a move that was seen as a gradual rehabilitation of the couple’s reconnection with the royal family. Andrew was seen laughing and throwing up his hands as he joked with the public after the service.
However, the latest revelations that Andrew was a close confidant of Yang have caused courtiers to despair. Palace insiders had hoped that Ferguson might appeal to Andrew’s sense of duty and convince him to keep a low profile at this year’s event.
On Friday the duke’s office said that Andrew had “ceased all contact” with Yang. A statement read: “The Duke of York followed advice from His Majesty’s government and ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised.
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• Who is Yang Tengbo? The Chinese ‘spy’ linked to Prince Andrew
“The duke met the individual through official channels with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed. He is unable to comment further on matters relating to national security.”
It has now been made clear that the duke and duchess intend to stay away.
When the anonymity order naming the Chinese businessman was lifted, pictures emerged of Andrew and Yang. He appears on the court circular, the Palace record of official royal engagements.
He was also pictured at events at St James’s Palace and is understood to have visited Windsor Castle and the duke’s private home of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park. It is understood that Palace aides are investigating the nature of the visits and what access Yang would have had while there.
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Aides were unsure on Monday night whether the duke would still attend a Christmas lunch for the wider royal family this week at Buckingham Palace. There are typically about 70 guests.
Tom Parker Bowles, the Queen’s 49-year-old son, will attend for the first time. In an interview with The Telegraph, he said: “My mum said, ‘I’d love you to come, I haven’t had Christmas with you for a long time.’”
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Andrew and Sarah’s daughters, had already planned to spend Christmas Day with their respective in-laws for the first time this year.
