PRINCE Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson have been pictured together leaving Royal Lodge.
The Duke and Duchess of York, who lived together at the royal property despite being divorced, were spotted in the car today.
They were making the short trip to Windsor Castle, on the same estate.
It comes after the pair reportedly opted not to attend the annual Christmas lunch at Sandringham amid Andrew’s Chinese spy scandal.
Instead, they are understood to have spent the day together.
They were previously seen on December 25 heading out for the afternoon, just minutes before King Charles’ speech to the nation was broadcast.
The duke, 64, has been described as a “close confidant” of alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.
It is thought the pair shared a friendship for more than ten years with the latter being banned from the UK on national security grounds.
Last week, biographer Andrew Lownie told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show: “I don’t think he’s (Prince Andrew) going to go to Sandringham ever again.”
He added the other royals “need to distance themselves from him” to save any further embarrassment.
Lownie described how the Prince had been “forced” out of the festive celebrations.
We also published photos of the duke driving alone at Windsor as the rest of the family prepared to make the trip to the Norfolk estate.
We also revealed the King’s other brother Prince Edward and wife Sophie were “unhappy” at plans for them to share a cottage with Andrew over the festive period before he pulled out.
Andrew, the late Queen’s second son and supposed favourite child, has been kept in the royal shadows since his car crash Newsnight interview in 2019.
He refused to condemn his relationship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein during the grilling from host Emily Maitlis and gave bizarre explanations when asked about alleged trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre.
There is some suggestion the Duchess of York talked Andrew out of going to the Firm’s Christmas gathering.
GB News royal correspondent, Cameron Walker, also appearing on the Sun’s Royal Exclusive show, said she may have realised how “publicly damaging this could be for the Firm”, and the King has used her as his “trump card”.
Mr Walker speculated that if things have died down by next year then perhaps Andrew could make a return to the formal Christmas lunch.
However, Mr Lownie cut in that he doesn’t see Andrew ever stepping foot at Sandringham again.
“He needs to get out of view so people totally forget about him,” he added.
Sun royal editor, and show host, Matt Wilkinson,
pointed out, however, Andrew appears to enjoy the limelight and has only left the UK once since his Newsnight interview to visit Bahrain.
He said paparazzi shots often show him out and about, and he is usually almost “waving” at them.
Mr Lownie agreed that he is “so thick-skinned he doesn’t realise this is terrible optics”, adding: “I don’t think he cares about embarrassing the rest of the Royal Family.”
The prince’s biographer Andrew Lownie told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show this week the spy scandal is “probably the most damaging”.
He said: “It’s more damaging than Epstein. I think the story is going to run right through next year.
“He’s always been much more vulnerable to the financial scandals in his life than the sexual ones.
“These stories haven’t really been investigated. It’s going to have to lead to greater transparency about royal finances.
“This has unlocked a whole series of events that I think are going to be very damaging to the monarchy.
“This is going to give fresh impetus to journalists to look into his financial affairs and how he affords to live in Royal Lodge.
“A lot more is still to come out. A lot has already come out in the past week about his activities.
“It’s the tip of the iceberg. He’s been scrounging money off people in the Middle East and Central Asia.
“When those stories come out, I think he’s going to be complete toast.
“The danger is that he’s going to bring the royal family down with him.”
