Christmas is going to look different for the British royal family this year. It’s suspected that King Charles may relax some of the late Queen’s rules, but in one area, he may be a lot stricter than his mother. He might ban one of his family members from celebrating Christmas with the rest of the royal family.
The family member in question is Prince Andrew, Charles’ brother. InStyle reports that whether or not Charles allows his brother to celebrate Christmas with the family will say a lot about whether or not Charles has completely written off his brother.
Due to Andrew’s association with Jeffrey Epstein, Charles is currently trying to evict his brother from the Royal Lodge, which is an estate located on Windsor Castle. So far, he has not been successful at his attempts.
In 2003, Andrew signed a lease for the Lodge for 75 years. All he has to do is maintain it and pay £250 a week in rent. The maintenance costs much more than the rent.
The Times reports that Charles has completely cut off Andrew from any financial help including a personal allowance and the cost of security at his home. Perhaps cutting him off will make the maintenance of the Lodge unaffordable for Andrew.
Now to the issue of Christmas. The Queen had a soft spot for Andrew. He was her baby, and he was spoiled. Despite his wrongdoings, she would have been likely to let him join the Christmas celebration. Charles sees things differently.
Bedell Smith told The Times that the late Queen “always believed in Christian forgivenes.”
However, according to former royal correspondent Stephen Bates, “Charles has a clear sense of the damage Andrew has done to the institution of monarchy.”
It’s possible that Charles will not allow Andrew to attend the Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham. If he attends, it means that Charles has not completely shut out his brother.
The royal family traditionally spends Christmas at Sandringham. While this was always a special place for the Queen, according to The Mirror, Charles plans to keep up many of the traditions, but perhaps with slightly relaxed rules.
According to royal expert Duncan Larcombe, “I don’t think Charles will exactly rip up the rule book, but there’s a strong chance he’ll loosen some of the rules. I think a lot of the more stoic aspects of Christmas were down to the Duke of Edinburgh, who was a stickler for timings. But I think the King is more relaxed about these things.”
Do you think Charles will ban Andrew from the traditional royal Christmas activities? Do you think he should ban him from these activities, or like his mother, should he practice “Christian forgiveness”?