Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is trying to delay his move to Sandringham.
It was supposed to be a year of consolidation after the brutal events of 2024. Instead of taking a respite in January as his mother did, the King threw himself into his work. Charles busied himself with his official duties, became the first reigning monarch to visit Auschwitz concentration camp, travelled all over the country meeting the public and hosted three inbound state visits at Windsor Castle.
“He’s certainly not let the grass grow under his feet,” says Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine. “That in itself is a good sign that he feels able to do all these things.” Palace aides confirmed he would be resuming a normal schedule of engagements in 2025 despite his ongoing cancer treatment and just days into the new year the Princess of Wales announced she was in remission.
The King’s workaholic nature saw him crowned as the hardest-working royal, clocking up the most engagements of any senior royal this year.
He undertook an impressive 532 engagements over the past 12 months, 50 more than his sister, the Princess Royal, who usually takes the title.
The Royal Family appeared to be back on their feet following the tumultuous events of the previous year – described as the King’s ‘annus horriblis’, which saw two senior royals diagnosed with cancer in quick succession, Anne admitted to intensive care following a head injury and the sudden death of Thomas Kingston.
In March, the King was briefly admitted to hospital, in what sources described as a mere “bump in the road”, but just days later he was undertaking a royal tour to Italy with his wife – which saw them work through their 20th wedding anniversary.
They then embarked on a whirlwind trip to Canada, travelling some 3,350m for just a 20-hour trip. An impressive feat for a man in his late 70s undergoing cancer treatment. Sources said “his dedication to duty means he just gets on with it. He won’t let us lighten his schedule”.
But while he was described as “managing” his cancer with relative ease, managing the scandals engulfing his young brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, proved far trickier.
King Charles visited Canada in May (Image: Getty)
As the Firm continued to put on a united front and lead the nation in marking key events, such as the 80th anniversary of VE Day over a bumper weekend of royal events, one of the ‘black sheep’ of the family reared its ugly head.
“Unfortunately, the whole year’s been dominated by Andrew,” says distinguished royal commentator Phil Dampier. “Both the King and William are desperate to try and draw a line under it.”
An endless drip-drip of damning revelations about Andrew’s associations with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including fresh claims from Virginia Giuffre (who alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 – allegations he has always denied) dominated the news agenda and was overshadowing the important work of senior royals.
The endless front pages, which included reports he asked a taxpayer funded police protection office to “dig up dirt” on Ms Guiffre, proved too much for the King.
After the 65-year-old announced he would stop using his Duke of York title, the King stepped in to formally strip him of his birthright to be a prince.
King Charles stripped his brother of his princely title (Image: Getty)
The announcement effectively banished him from the monarchy and saw Andrew surrender his lease at Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion in Windsor where he has lived for more than 20 years and paid only a “peppercorn rent”.
Mr Little believes that the King was a little slow to respond to the scandals and thinks it could have been tackled earlier – especially as the full announcement came just days before the Prince of Wales’s trip to Brazil for Earthshot, his most important week of the year.
However, the expert explains that the slow response was because Charles is a compassionate king who, like his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, finds confrontation difficult.
But has the King now done enough to put a lid on the scandal? Experts think not. Mr Dampier, who has over 40 years experience as a royal journalist, describes it as “a problem that’s going to spill over into the New Year” with the ongoing release of the Epstein files, and the upcoming publication of Andrew Lownie’s updated paperback version of his bombshell book Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York that thrust the former prince back into the spotlight this summer.
Mr Little agrees, and says: “Andrew will continue to come back and be a nagging pain from time to time. It’ll be a long time before it can be put to bed, if ever. It has been tidied up a lot but it’s never going to be totally resolved.”
Prince William visited Brazil in November (Image: Getty)
One event that will be of intense interest next year will be Andrew’s move to a dilapidated farmhouse on the Sandringham Estate as he publicly splits from his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, after cohabiting for just shy of two decades.
Sources have confirmed the Sun’s report earlier in the month that the former prince’s new home will be Marsh Farm, a far more modest abode that once served as a working farm.
“The King is happy for Andrew to move here as it’s a long way [seven miles] from the main house,” a royal insider said. But the rundown farm won’t be habitable for some time as it requires extensive renovations.
One source said: “Six months of works are needed before Andrew can move in and he’s strongly resisting plans to live in a temporary property until the renovations are complete – not least because the suggested property is a fraction of the size of Royal Lodge.”
Frustratingly, there is little the King can do to expedite the move as Andrew is legally allowed to stay at the lavish mansion for another 10 months – as he gave a year’s notice on the property on 30 October – the day it was announced he had lost his titles.
Andrew is set to move to the Sandringham Estate (Image: Getty)
Buckingham Palace has suggested he will be out in the first few months of the new year, due to the complexities of terminating the lease, with sources insisting the move will happen “as soon as possible and practicable”.
However those close to Andrew are adamant that he will “string it out” and hold on to Royal Lodge for as long as he can.
“He never wanted to leave so he’s going to do all he can to stay for as long as possible,” one said. They added they don’t expect him to stay in Sandringham full-time and will spend much of his time abroad due to his business contacts in the Middle East.
This is a view shared by Mr Dampier, who says: “The reality is that he will drag it out as long as possible because he doesn’t actually want to leave. I think it’s quite likely he will be there for another six months. He’s not in any rush to leave because he didn’t want to leave in the first place. So the longer he can string it out, he will.”
It’s unclear where Fergie will go, but she’s understood to have a number of options, including moving into the granny annex of her daughter, Princess Beatrice’s six-bedroom house in the Cotswolds.
With her complete break from the Firm coming 30 years after her divorce from Andrew, there are fears she will decide to sell her story to fill the coffers now her publishing deals have dried up.
“She will try and reinvent herself for the umpteenth time and forge on,” Mr Dampier said. “Only time will tell whether it’s too late for that, but she will certainly try.”
Asked whether he thought a tell-all memoir was on the cards, he said: “If she was backed into a corner she would. She’s done it before and she certainly knows a lot of intimate secrets about the Royal Family. That’s part of the reason that the King in the last few years, has tried to keep her on the inside and almost treat her like a wife.”
In 2023, Fergie was invited to join the Royal Family at Sandringham for their Christmas celebrations for the first time in 32 years.
She also accompanied her ex-husband to private royal events such as the Easter Mattins service in Windsor and the Duchess of Kent’s funeral in September.
But due to both of their associations with Mr Epstein, it is very unlikely that they will be publicly photographed with senior royals again, outside of high-profile funerals. His attendance at William’s Coronation is even in doubt due to the controversy it would bring.
Despite 2025 being a rollercoaster year for the Royal Family that risked being derailed by the disgraced house of York, it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
The King shared “good news” about his cancer, telling the nation that his treatment can be reduced in the New Year and the Princess of Wales was back to undertaking regular engagements.
Young Prince George, 12, is being gradually introduced to royal duties, watching, learning and emulating the example of his parents. He chatted to D-Day veterans in May, joined his mother at the poignant Festival of Remembrance in November and volunteered at a homeless charity with his father just weeks ago.
The young prince appears to be taking the extra responsibility with ease, and seems unfazed by the future that awaits. And next year we’ll find out which school he’ll be attending, with William and Catherine split on whether Eton or Marlborough College – their respective alma mater’s – would be more appropriate.
Even Prince Harry appeared to calm down this year, despite the ill-advised interview after he lost his long-standing security battle in May where he blamed the outcome on a “good old-fashioned establishment stitch-up”. Now he’s awaiting a review into his UK security arrangements, after sending a personal plea to the Home Secretary.
Next year promises to be another busy year for the Firm, with trips to Washington, India and Antigua and Barbuda reportedly in the works.The Prince and Princess of Wales are also understood to be planning their first trip abroad since their disastrous 2022 Caribbean tour, which is set to be a short trip within a few hours of the UK.
The king and his heir will be grateful that the Andrew situation has been dealt with and a firm distance has been placed between the disgraced former prince and the rest of the family.
“It’s been another rollercoaster year,” says Mr Little. But 2025 is ending on a very positive note with the improvement in the health of the King. And also the fact that the Princess of Wales is much more visible and doing stuff and looking well herself.
“That’s a great end to 2025 and hopefully, that will continue well into 2026. The King’s almost annus horribilis ends on an optimistic note.”
