Prince Andrew won’t join the royal family at Sandringham for Christmas Day after being embroiled in a scandal involving an alleged Chinese spy.
The Duke of York has decided to stay away to avoid further embarrassing the King, sources have revealed. Andrew will instead spend the day with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who still lives with him at his Windsor home, Royal Lodge.
The Duke of York’s latest nightmare was exposed when an alleged Chinese spy lost his appeal last week against being barred from the UK, reports the Mirror.
The man, identified today as Yang Tengbo and named in court documents as ‘H6’, brought the case after being banned in March 2023 on national security grounds despite having become a close contact of Prince Andrew.
The Chinese businessman, who has insisted he has “done nothing wrong or unlawful”, visited Buckingham Palace twice and was also allowed to enter St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle as a guest of Andrew, 64. In a statement, Mr Tengbo added that the “widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue”.
And, Mr Yang was invited to Prince Andrew’s birthday party in 2020, following being told by royal aide Dominic Hampshire he could act on the duke’s behalf when dealing with potential investors in China, a tribunal heard in July this year.
Prince Andrew released a statement last week stating he had ceased all contact with the alleged spy after being warned by the security services. He added: “Nothing of a sensitive nature was ever discussed.”
However, the King and other senior royals were said to be ‘exasperated’ with Andrew for again heaping further shame on the monarchy. Royal sources insist that Andrew had “done the right thing” by stepping away from the Christmas gathering. The Duke will also step away from the annual Buckingham Palace Christmas lunch held by King Charles for extended family, which is due to take place on Thursday, it is understood.
It was revealed on Friday how the King had been briefed by UK intelligence services over the major security breach linking the prince to the alleged Chinese spy. Charles was told by royal aides counter-intelligence officers are probing how the scandal-hit Duke accepted the now banished Chinese suspect as his “confidante”.
It emerged after the foreign ‘agent’ lost an appeal last week against being barred from the UK as a threat to national security, having become friendly with the prince. The breach is the latest embarrassing twist caused by the Prince’s shady contacts following his association with multi-millionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
It is the latest involvement in scandal for Prince Andrew, who was forced to step back from royal life in disgrace following his disastrous interview on BBC Newsnight where he failed to address the relationship with Epstein. In the interview he also said he had no recollection of meeting Virginia Giuffre, a woman abused as a teeenager by Epstein and his lover Ghislaine Maxwell, who accused Andrew of having sex with her three times as a 17-year-old in 2001.
Andrew went on to pay her £12million in an out-of-court settlement following her civil sex claim against him in the US. He continues to deny any wrongdoing. Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
A royal source said: “The King and other members of the family are as exasperated as can be with the Duke with this latest issue. It is of grave embarrassment to him and the institution.” Judges last week heard how the alleged spy formed a close working relationship with Andrew.
But now it appears the UK’s MI5 domestic intelligence agency suspects the prince’s Chinese confidante may have become a ‘gateway’ agent used to forge a path into Andrew’s network. Once a ‘gateway’ is established that person would be able then introduce Chinese intelligence officers into the network being targeted, in this case Prince Andrew and his associates.
It is believed the prince was targeted because Chinese intelligence suspected he was vulnerable over his costly association with multi-millionaire monster Jeffrey Epstein. However, Mr Yang said he asked his legal team to disclose his identity “due to the high level of speculation and misreporting in the media”.
Guy Vassall-Adams KC, for Yang Tengbo, told the High Court: “There has been an enormous amount of media reporting in relation to this story, and particularly in relation to the relationship between my client, H6, and Prince Andrew, as well as a huge amount of speculation about the identity of my client. Having reflected on these matters, my client wishes to make a public statement and is applying for last Wednesday’s order to be discharged.”
In his statement, Mr Yang said: “I have done nothing wrong or unlawful and the concerns raised by the Home Office against me are ill-founded. The widespread description of me as a ‘spy’ is entirely untrue.” He claimed he was a victim of a “political climate” which had seen a rise in tensions between the UK and China. When relations are good, and Chinese investment is sought, I am welcome in the UK,” he said.
Despite cutting him off financially and refusing to meet the £3million a year cost of his private security, the King had attempted to bring his brother in from the cold since ascending the throne. Andrew spent last Christmas with the royal family at the King’s Norfolk estate and was seen walking to and from church on Christmas Day as well as talking to local royal fans.
He will now spend Christmas with his ex-wife, who in an interview with a weekend magazine defended him as “the best, a great man with a great heart, and kind”. Sarah, Duchess of York, who has herself been embroiled in several scandals involving cash for access claims at the heart of the institution involving her ex-husband, said she will always “support” the father of her children.
She added: “I was totally and utterly in love with Andrew. I would do it all over again, 100 per cent. He’s the best, a great man with a great heart, and kind. Our wedding was the best day of my life. But I gave up my anonymity that day. I was able to because love conquers all. It’s still with us today. I won’t let him down.”
She also compared caring for her father after her sister left for Australia to looking after Prince Andrew. She said: “I became a carer for Dad. I was left to look after a sad man, which is sort of what I’m doing now.” Buckingham Palace did not comment.
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