The Duke of York has appeared at the Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle with King Charles, days after it emerged that an alleged spy helped him write birthday letters to China’s president.
Prince Andrew arrived at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, with the princess royal, as well as his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, and Anne’s husband, Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.
He quickly entered the chapel ahead of his sister, Princess Anne, as she spoke outside with the Dean of Windsor, the Right Rev Christopher Cocksworth.
Charles and Queen Camilla, who arrived a few minutes later than Andrew, waved and smiled at crowds gathered outside the chapel.
The royal family began to distance itself from Andrew after his infamous BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019 about his relationship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In January 2022, he was stripped of his military roles and use of HRH title a month before he settled a legal dispute with one of Epstein’s victims Virginia Giuffre, who alleged she had been assaulted by the the duke.
Andrew’s links to an alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo – also known as Chris Yang – have heaped further embarrassment on the royal family. Andrew missed the traditional Christmas gathering at Sandringham last year, after Yang was banned from the UK on security grounds.
Yang has denied suggestions he was involved in espionage and said he had “done nothing wrong or unlawful”.
Papers released from a special immigration tribunal earlier this month disclosed that Yang had advised Andrew on letters he wrote directly to China’s president, Xi Jinping.
According to one document, from Dominic Hampshire, who worked for Andrew from 2019 to 2022, these letters were written each year on Xi’s birthday. Hampshire’s statement to the tribunal said: “The royal household, including the late queen, were fully aware of this communication – it was certainly accepted and it may be fair to say it was even encouraged – it was an open channel of communication that was useful to have.”
Also attending the Easter service were the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and their son James, the Earl of Wessex, Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, and Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are spending the weekend with their children in Norfolk. The Waleses, who have a country home, Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham estate, missed the annual service last year after Kate, who is in remission, was diagnosed with cancer.
Meanwhile, the archbishop of York gave the Easter sermon on Sunday, in place of the archbishop of Canterbury. Delivering the Church of England’s primary Easter message from York Minster, Stephen Cottrell called for peace, citing Israel and Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan and DR Congo as “places of conflict that convulse our world”.
He also spoke against “the madness of a world which ‘others’ others, drives wedges between communities, breeds hatred and promotes greed”.
The former archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, announced his resignation in November in the wake of a report that found he could have brought the serial abuser John Smyth to justice if he had reported him to police in 2013. Cottrell, his interim replacement, has also faced calls to resign over his decisions when handling the case.
