Prince Andrew appears to have been snubbed by his older brother, King Charles, after the monarch’s latest move at Hillsborough Castle, his official Northern Ireland residence.
Reports emerged earlier in the week claiming that multiple pictures of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were present on Charles’s desk in the castle and throughout the State Drawing Room.
These included a small, framed portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and King Charles’s official 70th birthday portrait taken in 2018, where both Prince William and Harry and their wives were present.
In addition, King Charles has two separate framed photographs of his two sons, the Prince of Wales, 43, and the Duke of Sussex, 41.
However, no images of the Duke of York were displayed.
Palace staff are understood to have assembled the photos themselves, although the King has final say on which ones are present.
A source told the Mirror: “Royal Historic Palaces make decisions on what they believe to be appropriate.
“They are also guided by members of The Royal Family.
Prince Andrew suffers snub from King Charles amid Royal Family feud with Yorks
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“The decision over what pictures of the family to use ultimately lies with the King.”
Prince Andrew, 65, stepped down from royal duties in 2019 following his disastrous Newsnight interview on the BBC.
During the sit-down televised interrogation by Emily Maitlis, the father of two admitted that he did not regret his association with Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender, which caused international uproar.
In subsequent years, Prince Andrew has kept his head down at his mansion, Royal Lodge, where he lives with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s fractured relationship with the Royal Family has resulted in fewer in-person visits back to the UK for the Duke and Duchess
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The Duke of York is now only occasionally seen in public at Christmas, Easter and funerals.
However, it is unlikely that Prince Andrew and Fergie will be present in Sandringham this winter after it emerged that the Duchess of York emailed Epstein in 2011, which appeared to contradict her prior public condemnation of him and revealed a more supportive relationship than she’d claimed.
Sent weeks after publicly denouncing Epstein and vowing no further contact, the email expressed apologies and described him as a “supreme friend”.
This damaged her reputation and led to her removal from several children’s charity patronages.
Sarah’s spokesman later explained that the email was a response to Epstein’s threat of a defamation lawsuit.
Following the fallout, King Charles told Prince Andrew and Fergie to remain “invisible” at the royal Christmas celebrations and to miss the event entirely this year, according to the Times.
The King’s instruction for them to be “invisible” is likely meant to avoid negative publicity and keep the Yorks out of the public eye.
The Duke and Duchess of York’s two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, could still possibly travel to the Norfolk residence with their respective husbands, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank.
However, last year, Eugenie and her husband spent the festive season with Mr Brooksbank’s widowed mother, Nicola.
Princess Beatrice did celebrate Christmas with the Royal Family in 2024, despite originally intending to travel to Italy with Mr Mapelli Mozzi.
However, the medical advice given to the Princess of York persuaded her against international travel, as she was pregnant at the time with her second child, Athena Elizabeth Rose.
The royal tot was born on January 22, 2025, several weeks prematurely, and weighed just four pounds and five ounces.