Prince William and Kate Middleton will not attend the Royal Family’s traditional pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace today, according to reports.
According to a royal source, the Wales family are already in Norfolk which had been pre-planned and are looking forward to spending time with the King and the rest of the Royal Family in Sandringham over the Christmas period.
The monarch has now arrived at the palace to host the lunch in a suit and blue tie, waving to tourists who gathered outside the gates.
Sir Clive Alderton, the King's private secretary, was seen sitting beside him in the State Bentley.
Charles was snapped just minutes after it was announced that Prince William and Kate Middleton would not be attending today's private event.
They are not the only royal relatives to be skipping the annual event this year after it was announced that Prince Andrew would also not be present amid the alleged Chinese spy scandal.
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The Duke of York’s latest nightmare was exposed when an alleged Chinese spy lost his appeal last week against being barred from the UK.
The man, identified as Yang Tengbo and named in court documents as ‘H6’, visited Buckingham Palace twice and was also allowed to enter St James's Palace and Windsor Castle as a guest of Andrew, 64.
It's been revealed that the disgraced Duke of York was under pressure to "uninvite himself" from the royal festivities to avoid causing any further embarrassment to his brother, King Charles.
Andrew is believed to also not be attending Sandringham this year with him and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson planning to spend the holidays at their Royal Lodge home in Windsor instead.
His two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, are also boycotting the Royal Family's Christmas amid their father's latest scandal.
It comes as the first ever year the siblings have not spent the festivities at Sandringham, with the exception of 2020 due to Covid-19, and are believed to be spending the holidays with their in-laws instead.
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