January 1, 2025 at 12:40pm EST
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The new year is supposed to be a fresh start for the royal family, but King Charles III hasn’t got a handle on Prince Andrew‘s latest scandal — it’s following him into 2025. The ongoing issues, this time with an alleged spy from China, have the palace on high alert.
The big concern appears to be the intense media coverage over Andrew’s relationship with businessman Yang Tengbo, who was reportedly a “close confidant.” It was a “serious breach of national security,” per court documents obtained by In Touch Weekly. An insider shared with the media outlet that the Duke of York’s association with Tengbo “has caused panic in the palace — he’s been accused of spilling all to this man, and Andrew knows a lot.”
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Prince Andrew might have revealed confidential information about his eldest brother and the palace. “The royal family is spiraling over fears that secrets are going to be coming out,” the insider added. King Charles and his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, have always given Andrew special treatment no matter how bad his infractions were. His association with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein should have been enough, but Prince Harry seemed to receive harsher treatment than Andrew — and that feud is still brewing!
Andrew reportedly has an offer from the Middle East, though. Andrew Lownie, the author of Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor, told The Daily Beast that the Duke of York has a new home if he wants it.
“Andrew has been given the use of a palace by the Abu Dhabi authorities. It costs them nothing,” Lownie claimed. “He has been spending a lot of time out there in recent years and I am told by reliable sources that from next year he may divide his time between the Middle East and the U.K. He is expected to go between the two.”
Lownie also believes that the entire York family, including Sarah Ferguson, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Eugenie “are up to their necks” in relationships with people in the Middle East. It could possibly cause another controversy for King Charles which is likely why he’s on high alert about his younger brother.
“People in The Firm [are] just wringing their hands, wondering how much more leniency or tolerance that they can possibly show Andrew before they just fling him out on his ear,” a second In Touch Weekly source noted. “The issue is that he’s clearly not going anywhere, so he’s like this thousand-pound elephant in the room.”
It’s a 2025 headache for King Charles that started even before the new year arrived.
Before you go, click to see all the biggest royal scandals in the past 50 years.