Prince Andrew will not join royals at Sandringham for Christmas

The Duke of York will not join the Royal Family at Sandringham for Christmas, royal sources have told the BBC.

It is hoped Prince Andrew will “honourably withdraw” from all family events this year to avoid being a distraction, they added.

He is instead expected to stay at home in Windsor on Christmas Day.

It comes after an alleged Chinese spy the prince had been linked to was named following a High Court judgement.

Yang Tengbo, also known as Chris Yang, was previously known only as H6 due to an anonymity order protecting his identity.

But a judge ruled on Monday that the Chinese businessman could be named.

Mr Yang, who had been identified as having an “unusual degree of trust” with Prince Andrew in a court ruling, said it was “entirely untrue” that he was a spy.

He added that he had “done nothing wrong or unlawful”.

Mr Yang was invited to the prince’s birthday party in 2020 and was told he could act on the prince’s behalf when dealing with potential investors in China.

He was also told in a letter by one of Prince Andrew’s advisors: “Under your guidance, we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor.”

Last week, the UK’s semi-secret national security court upheld a 2023 ban on Mr Yang entering the country.

Mr Yang had gone to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) to appeal the decision.

But it decided the ban should remain because of suspicions that he had been involved in an “elite capture” operation – a tactic of the Chinese state to exert influence in western nations.

Prince Andrew previously said in a statement that he had “ceased all contact” with the Chinese businessman, with all meetings having been “through official channels” and “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed”.