This Christmas, Princess Beatrice is facing an impossible choice. She can spend the holidays with her father at Royal Lodge, the 30-room Windsor mansion he’s called home for twenty years, or celebrate with King Charles at Sandringham, where forty-five relatives gather. She cannot do both.
So at thirty-seven, a mother of three, Beatrice is skiing abroad instead. Her absence costs her deeply. It is a choice that will define her family’s Christmas.
Between Two Invitations
Currently, Beatrice is torn between the two invitations. Sandringham is calling—the King wants his niece there. Royal Lodge is waiting—her parents hope she will choose them. A close friend explains: “Beatrice doesn’t want to cause any embarrassment and was torn between loyalty to the King and her parents.”
She cannot attend both without appearing to abandon one of them. So she is choosing neither. She is removing herself entirely from the equation.
Her Sister Faces the Same Wall
Beatrice is not navigating this alone. At this moment, her younger sister Eugenie is making the same painful calculation. At thirty-five, with two children, Eugenie is also declining both invitations. Friends describe her as “struggling with Christmas,” caught between her parents and institutional loyalty.
The sisters lean on each other during this time. They grew up believing family came first. Now they understand: sometimes protecting an institution means stepping away from those who raised you.
Royal Lodge Sits Dark This Year
Currently, Royal Lodge is transforming. For the first time in twenty years, there are no Christmas decorations. The twin wreaths that hang every December are gone. The rooftop Christmas tree has not been installed. Inside, the annual staff party is canceled—a tradition spanning decades is coming to an end.
An insider explains: “With everything that’s gone on, he’s very much like the Grinch. It’s clear this year festive cheer is in short supply.” The decorations disappear because Andrew cannot celebrate.
This Is His Final Christmas There
What is unfolding right now is the end of an era. This Christmas is Andrew’s last at Royal Lodge. The deadline looms: January 31, 2026. In October 2025, King Charles stripped his brother of all remaining titles—the Prince designation, the birthright, everything.
Andrew is being asked to leave the home where he’s lived since 2003. For a man built on privilege, this Christmas transforms into an ending. The silence is the sound of twenty years collapsing.
The Friendship That Destroyed Everything
Andrew is sitting in this mansion because of the choices made decades ago. He maintained a close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the financier and convicted sex offender. When that friendship became public in 2019, Andrew’s BBC interview defending the association spectacularly backfired.
He spent five years trying to hold on. In October 2025, King Charles made the decision that changed everything. Charles is funding Andrew’s relocation, but the message is clear: you cannot stay.
A Father Spending Christmas Alone
Right now, Andrew is preparing to spend Christmas in near-complete isolation. His daughters are not coming. His grandchildren will not wake to stockings by the fireplace. He will have Sarah Ferguson, his ex-wife, who continues to live with him at Royal Lodge, despite their 1996 divorce.
Two people bound by history and shared grandchildren navigate diminished circumstances. But Christmas should mean gathering, laughter, and tradition. This Christmas means silence where there should be music.
The Daughters’ Act of Mercy
Beatrice and Eugenie are not abandoning their father without thought. They attended the pre-Christmas family lunch at Buckingham Palace—a deliberate gesture of respect for the monarchy. They are sending gifts and maintaining correspondence. But they understand something breaking their hearts: their presence at Royal Lodge would only amplify his pain and draw more scrutiny.
A friend explains: “She appreciates the way the King and William have looked after her.” The daughters choose a different kind of love—the mercy of stepping away.
Building a Life Away From Wreckage
Beatrice is thirty-seven, living deliberately separated from royal controversy. She married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, an Italian property developer, in July 2020. The wedding was small, quiet, pointedly un-scandalous. They’ve built a thriving blended family: Edoardo’s son, Wolfie, eight; Beatrice’s daughter, Sienna, three; and newborn Athena Elizabeth Rose, born prematurely in January 2025.
Beatrice has spoken publicly about her terror during Athena’s early arrival. These three children anchor her life. Her Christmas decision protects their peace.
The Mother’s Choice
As December unfolds, Beatrice prioritizes her family’s well-being over obligations. Athena is eleven months old, born at four pounds five ounces, and requires careful monitoring. Sienna is three and needs consistency. Wolfie deserves a Christmas free from family tension.
By removing her family from Royal Lodge’s fracture and Sandringham’s formality, Beatrice chooses something radical: simplicity. Ski lodges. Hot chocolate. Children laughing in the snow. This is what Christmas means to her now.
Sarah Ferguson Holding Everything Together
Sarah Ferguson occupies the strangest position in this collapse. Divorced from Andrew for twenty-nine years, she nonetheless lives with him at Royal Lodge and remains deeply entwined in her daughters’ lives. Fergie is becoming the emotional foundation keeping Andrew functioning.
This Christmas, Fergie faces eviction from her home of seventeen years. Yet everyone describes her as focused on what matters: daughters, grandchildren, holding this fractured family together.
The King’s Complicated Mercy
King Charles is navigating something nearly impossible. He cannot forgive the scandal away. The monarchy demands accountability. Yet he is personally funding Andrew’s relocation to Sandringham and covering future housing costs. This is mercy wrapped in firmness—Andrew will not suffer materially, but he will be exiled, made invisible, relocated to a private estate.
It is the royal version of a difficult conversation happening in palace corridors: “I love you. I cannot enable you. I will care for you, but you must go.” The firmness is clarity.
A Younger Generation Drawing Lines
What is happening with Beatrice and Eugenie this Christmas signals something larger unfolding in real time. This is a younger royal generation making difficult, public choices signaling institutional priorities over family loyalty.
The York daughters, by absenting themselves from Royal Lodge, are making a generational statement: We love our father. We cannot endorse his choices. We will not perform normalcy around him.
Christmas Becomes a Turning Point
This Christmas is becoming a turning point that historians will mark as a significant milestone. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—stripped of his title, absent from official gatherings, no longer a “Prince”—is spending the holiday in a mansion without decorations, with only his ex-wife for company. His daughters are waking in another country, in a ski lodge far from Windsor.
King Charles is hosting a carefully curated gathering at Sandringham, projecting strength and continuity. The monarchy moves forward, understanding that even royal blood cannot shield one from consequence.
Love Expressed Through Distance
For Beatrice, this Christmas is not rejection. It is recognition that some families cannot gather without pain—and sometimes the most loving thing a daughter can do is step away. She is skiing with her children right now, away from having to choose sides. She is present for Edoardo, for Sienna, for newborn Athena, for Wolfie.
She calls her father, wishing him well, knowing her absence is paradoxically a gift. This is a modern family unfolding in real time: love sometimes requires distance.
Sources
“Princess Beatrice’s Christmas Plans Revealed Amid Royal Family Drama” – GB News, December 22, 2025
“King Charles Strips Prince Andrew of Titles and Royal Lodge” – BBC News, October 30, 2025
“Princess Beatrice Gives Birth to Second Daughter Athena” – CNN, January 29, 2025
“Prince Andrew’s Royal Lodge Without Christmas Decorations for First Time in 20 Years” – Marie Claire, December 20, 2025
“Sarah Ferguson Faces Eviction from Royal Lodge After 17 Years” – People Magazine, October 30, 2025
“Princess Eugenie Struggling with Christmas Between Parents and Monarchy” – Cosmopolitan, December 15, 2025