King’s conundrum amid fears stubborn Prince Andrew will still attend family Christmas lunch and will parade in front of crowds at Sandringham despite ‘Chinese spy’ scandal: Royal insiders hope Duke will ‘do the right thing’ and uninvite himself

Prince Andrew should ‘do the right thing’ and opt out of the royal family’s annual Christmas lunch and parade over the festive period to avoid a difficult decision for the king, royal insiders say.

The disgraced duke will attend an annual Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace on Thursday and then take the traditional walk from Sandringham to St Magdalene Church in front of a crowd of onlookers on Christmas Day.

However, insiders have suggested that Andrew may choose to step aside to avoid potential embarrassment, with the Daily Mail’s Royal Editor Rebecca English revealing how the King desperately hopes the Duke will ‘do the right thing’ and get away this Christmas to stay.

On Thursday, Prince Andrew became the subject of yet another scandal when it emerged that a “close confidant” of the Duke of York was an alleged Chinese spy who was banned from entering Britain following an MI5 investigation.

The alleged agent, who can only be named as H6, was so close to Andrew that he visited Buckingham Palace twice and entered St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle.

The king is said to be furious because Prince Andrew has plunged the royal family into yet another scandal.

It is said that Charles wants his younger brother to decide for himself to step away from public appearances, rather than forcing His Majesty to take matters into his own hands and dismiss him from all public events during the holidays.

Currently, Andrew will join the rest of his family in Norfolk for Christmas, along with his ex-wife and daughters Princess Beatrice and Eugenie and their children.

They are expected to stay at Wood Farm, a large property on the estate.

He is then still expected, according to Germanic tradition, to privately join the rest of the 45-strong gathering to exchange gifts on Christmas Eve and then for lunch on Christmas Day, which is a very public walk in the morning going to church means.

Prince Andrew, 64, has been taking Christmas morning walks with the rest of the family for the past two years since the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, despite other controversies including his friendship with Jeffery Epstein.

But things could be different this year, amid revelations of the king’s anger – with the alleged relationship tarnishing the reputation of the entire royal family.

However, a source said that despite his frustration with the Duke of York, Charles has accepted that he cannot “divorce or dismiss” his younger brother because “there will always be a blood tie.”

Insiders have said Andrew is being urged to make the decision himself to avoid King Charles having to ban his brother from the engagement.

A royal insider said this The sun: ‘There would inevitably have to be some very awkward conversations and the king would hate to make his brother squirm.’

Friends of Andrew suggested that he should have known that his presence at such events would put King Charles in an awkward position.

The alleged spy, who is a businessman, previously attended a meeting of the powerful Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing.

As a sign of his importance to the Chinese Communist Party, he was pictured in the front row of the meeting in the vast Great Hall of the People.

The businessman lost an appeal against a decision to ban him from entering Britain on national security grounds.

He took a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then Home Secretary Suella Braverman said he should be barred from Britain in March 2023.

Judges were told that in a briefing for the Home Secretary in July 2023, officials alleged that H6 had been in a position to create relationships between prominent British figures and senior Chinese officials “which could be used for purposes of political interference’.

They also said H6 had downplayed its relationship with the Chinese state, which combined with its relationship with Prince Andrew, posed a threat to national security.

It is not known when spy H6 first contacted the Duke of York about business opportunities in China, but the Home Office told immigration judges there was a “covert and clandestine” element to the relationship.

The former civil servant quickly became one of Andrew’s closest mentors. Dominic Hampshire, a senior adviser to the duke, told H6 in 2020 that he should “never underestimate the strength” of his relationship with Andrew.

But the alleged friend apparently reported back to China and received instructions on how to deal with Andrew.

After being stopped at the British border in November 2021, court documents show H6 vehemently denied having ties to the CCP, saying he “avoids getting involved in politics because it has no place in the business world.”

The scandal is just the latest humiliation for Prince Andrew, who is already a royal pariah after being forced to step back from his palace duties following the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile scandal.

The duke stepped down from royal duties at the end of 2019 after public outrage over a BBC television interview in which he defended his friendship with Epstein.

In February 2022, he settled a US civil case brought by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.

Andrew denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Queen Elizabeth II soon afterwards stripped him of his honorary military titles and patronages, effectively excluding him from royal life.

Earlier this year, the king stopped paying his brother’s £3 million a year bail at Royal Lodge and urged him to move to more modest accommodation.

But in November it emerged that the duke had been allowed to stay at the property after convincing palace authorities that he had secured enough money to cover his living expenses.

The Keeper of the Privy Purse, Sir Michael Stevens, reportedly approved that the funding came from legitimate sources. However, last week’s revelations raise new questions about where exactly Andrew found the money to finance his stay at the Windsor mansion.

It is clear that because he has a leasehold agreement with the Crown Estate and not with the Royal Household, he has the same rights and responsibilities as any private tenant.