Here’s an answer to the question no one was asking: yes, Prince Andrew plans to attend the royal Christmas festivities at Sandringham this year. Last year, no one went to Sandringham because of the pandemic. The Queen and Prince Philip stayed at Windsor Castle, and they were visited by three ghosts in the form of Prince Charles, the Countess of Wessex and the Duke of York. I think Anne might have stopped by at some point too (perhaps she’s the Jacob Marley, wearing the chains she forged in life, link by link and yard by yard). The year before that, 2019, Andrew had just stepped down from royal duties, but he still went to Sandringham and spent time with his parents. The same thing will happen this year. As in, he’ll go to Sandringham but he’ll try not to be photographed around anyone, and he’s not going on the Christmas-morning church walk.
Prince Andrew will not join the royal family for the main Christmas day church service at Sandringham, after deciding to “keep a low profile” over the festive period. The Duke of York is planning to attend an early morning service at the St Mary Magdalene church on the estate, as he did a month after his catastrophic BBC Newsnight interview in 2019.
Royal sources have told how Andrew, 61, has “privately displayed a lot of uncertainty over Christmas” and has been “apprehensive” over joining the rest of his family at the Queen’s Norfolk home for the festive season.
A source said: “The Duke doesn’t want to be a distraction, especially as this is the first time the Queen has had her family all together since the start of the pandemic apart from at Prince Philip ’s funeral. Everyone is hoping to have a relaxing and joyful time.”
Sources have claimed Andrew considered hosting his daughters Eugenie and Beatrice and their families at his Royal Lodge home in Windsor, but has agreed to join the family at Sandringham after being personally asked by the Queen.
This sounds like Andrew doesn’t want to get blamed for inviting himself to Sandringham. He’s trying to tell the world, “look, I wanted to just stay home and hide out, but mummy begged me to come!” I believe that too, I think mummy did beg him to come to Sandringham. I also think the Queen has made it clear that she wants the whole family around her this year. I expect we’ll see Beatrice, Eugenie, Jack, Edo and probably Sarah Ferguson too.
Meanwhile, in another Daily Mirror story also published on Tuesday, sources point out that Andrew’s got a major court hearing on January 4th – that hearing will determine whether or not he’ll face a full trial in Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit. Andrew apparently told his lawyers to cancel their Christmas holidays. This Mirror piece was chockablock full of interesting quotes:
Prince Andrew has ordered his US legal team to “cancel Christmas” and prepare for a key court date in his sexual assault case. The Duke of York has instructed his legal team to “leave no stone unturned” in the lead up to the January 4 hearing, described as his “last ditch attempt” to get allegations he abused a teenage girl thrown out.
Royal sources say he is “totally consumed” with the legal battle and has been staying up into the night to keep in constant conversation with his California-based lawyers. Next Monday they are set to deliver their final submissions to the New York court before a decision is taken in the new year as to whether the Duke will face a full trial.
Sources close to the Duke say he has become “incredibly stressed” in recent weeks after fearing his team’s strategy of not publicly responding to the claims is failing. Insiders also suggest he is extremely worried over the financial burden he has placed on the Queen, who agreed to personally meet his spiralling court costs, which could run into millions. Prince Andrew has denied the claims.
One source close to Andrew said: “The tension in the camp is palpable. No one is really sure what Andrew’s involvement is other than asking a lot of questions, but he spends his days and nights poring over documents. He is totally consumed by it, keeping most irregular working hours so he can be in contact with his team. He was particularly stressed a few days ago and was heard remonstrating with one of the team. The feeling was he was telling them to effectively cancel Christmas and get totally across all the eventualities of what could happen in the case so there are, as he put it, ‘no more surprises’. It’s very much a last ditch attempt to get the case thrown out and if that doesn’t succeed he knows they are all potentially in it for the long haul.”
Oh, the poor human-trafficker prince has his nose to the grindstone, working irregular hours and poring over documents… except his Christmas holiday goes on, because the Queen begged him and because the Queen is paying for all of this. Once again, I do wonder if Andrew wouldn’t simply be better off settling with Virginia out of court? My God.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
