Prince Andrew was persuaded by Sarah Ferguson to not be part of the royal household at Sandringham on Christmas Day, sparing the Windsors’ additional embarrassment amid allegations of his shut friendship with an alleged Chinese spy.
The Duke of York is on the centre of recent controversy after Yang Tengbo, one in every of his former confidants, was barred from the UK for “covert and deceptive activity”.
The Chinese businessman, named on Monday after a choose lifted a court docket order, is claimed to have leveraged his friendship with Andrew to realize entry to Buckingham Palace.
In the wake of the revelations, the duke had confronted calls to withdraw from a Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace on Thursday and to keep away from showing with the royal household at Sandringham subsequent week.
It is known that his ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, satisfied him to step away from the celebrations, giving up her personal probability to return to Sandringham for Christmas once more having spent a few years out of the royal fold.
She is believed to have come to the royal household’s rescue after King Charles and Queen Camilla privately urged Andrew to “see sense” and withdraw from subsequent week’s public gathering, because the spy controversy continues to escalate.
The choice for the pair to remain put on the Royal Lodge is assumed to have been made simpler by Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie’s plans to spend Christmas with their respective in-laws this 12 months for the primary time.
Fergie made return to the royal fold final December, becoming a member of the household for his or her annual Christmas Day walkabout for the primary time in 30 years – a major second after her high-profile divorce from Andrew in 1996.
Her attendance marked a departure from a long time of exclusion following the notorious 1992 “toe-sucking” furore, which led Prince Philip to bar Beatrice and Eugenie’s mom from the royal event.
But final 12 months, Charles softened his stance, inviting the duchess to affix the household at Sandringham, though she didn’t accompany them to church.
The duke, in the meantime, has been drawn into court docket proceedings surrounding the alleged spy, whose attraction in opposition to exclusion from the UK was dismissed by a specialist tribunal final Thursday.
Mr Yang, a director of a Chinese funding consultancy agency, was barred from Britain in 2023 after authorities deemed he posed a possible menace to nationwide safety.
At a listening to in July, the tribunal was informed that an adviser to Prince Andrew claimed he may act on the duke’s behalf when partaking with potential traders in China. Mr Yang, who was reportedly invited to the duke’s celebration in 2020, denied any wrongdoing, stating: “The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue.”
The case solely turned public after Mr Yang challenged his exclusion on the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.
On Friday, an announcement from the duke’s workplace stated: “The duke of York followed advice from His Majesty’s government and ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised. 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.”
Buckingham Palace declined to remark.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prince-andrew-fergie-chinese-spy-christmas-sandringham-b2666234.html