After Andrew's downfall, will it be a Christmas horribilis for the royals?

What does Christmas 2025 hold for the royal family, following a year that seems to have rivalled the famous annus horribilis of 1992, when three royal couples separated and a fire tore through Windsor Castle?

- ANDREW LOWNIE

There are a lot of question marks. In particular, what does the festive season bring for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, in what will be his final Christmas at Royal Lodge after he was stripped of his titles and told he would have to leave the 30-room mansion?

Last year he spent the day with his former wife, Sarah Ferguson — now no longer the Duchess of York — and their staff, but without their eldest daughter Princess Beatrice, who chose to be with the royal family at Sandringham, and their youngest, Princess Eugenie, who was with her in-laws. Will his ex-wife be with him this year, having said she will no longer live with him? What will their daughters do, caught between loyalty to their parents and a desire to keep in with the royals?

The likelihood is that he will be entertaining friends — yes, he has some — before he decamps to less palatial accommodation in the New Year. In the past, he has often then gone skiing or to warmer climes. As his passport has not been seized — and the Met has said it will “take no further action” over claims he asked his police protection officer for information about Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was forced to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor on three occasions — he will be safe to do so. He denies the allegations.