The royal family is unusual in many respects, and punishing people by not allowing them to go to church is one of their oddities.

Such a sorry fate potentially awaits Prince Andrew, with speculation rife that King Charles may distance himself from his brother on Christmas Day amid controversy that Andrew allegedly befriended a Chinese spy.

A report in the London Times said the king “could” ban the duke from joining the royals on their annual walk to church in Sandringham.

Andrew was previously banned from attending the Christmas Day service (and photocall) after his disastrous BBC interview in which he failed to express any regret for his association with Jeffrey Epstein. He was readmitted to royal churchgoing society in 2022, but it now looks like the rehabilitation is over.

Supporting the thesis of the Times story, The Daily Beast was told by a friend of the king, “His Majesty’s patience is wearing thin. He has stood by Andrew for many years, but everyone has their limits. I can’t see the king wanting to walk to church with someone who was friends with a Chinese spy.”

Buckingham Palace declined to comment but another friend of the king said: “Andrew is finished. You would have thought it would be hard to find a way to make things worse but somehow he has managed it.”

This week it was revealed that Andrew had befriended the alleged Chinese spy, a businessman known only as H6, who is thought to have been clandestinely operating in the U.K. on behalf of Beijing. Incredibly, Andrew snuck him into his house and other royal palaces.

Andrew reportedly invited the alleged spy to Buckingham Palace twice, to Windsor Castle and St James’s Palace, and to his 60th birthday party.

The alleged spy was stopped at an airport under counterterrorism powers in November 2021. Officers seized his phone, which contained detailed information about their relationship. In one message, Dominic Hampshire, an adviser to the duke, told H6 that he sat “at the very top of a tree” of Andrew’s confidants.

Andrew’s friends say he is just the fall guy

Andrew’s friends, meanwhile, are fighting back. Essentially their argument seems to be that he can hardly be blamed for the common courtesy of extending the hand of friendship to a chap whom he met on official business. Surely it is only a matter of time until we hear he was simply “too honorable” not to invite his new Chinese acquaintance to his birthday party.

One friend of Andrew told The Daily Beast that a report in the London Times revealing H6 also managed to meet two former British prime ministers bolstered Andrew’s case.

The London Times reports that the alleged spy’s “elite capture” program saw him meet the two former prime ministers separately. H6 displayed photographs of the meetings on his desk.

The Daily Beast’s source said: “This guy clearly operated with impunity in the U.K. for years, meeting PMs. That’s not Andrew’s fault, it’s the security services.”

However, David Cameron and Theresa May’s offices characterized these meetings as standard meet-and-greets, whereas Andrew appears, according to the Times, to have “built a personal and business relationship with H6 over at least eight years.”

The Telegraph also cited a source in Andrew’s camp as saying that Andrew should not be blamed for the affair.

The Telegraph’s source said: “If it is true that the duke was targeted by this man and that this man in turn was on maneuvers in some way, I don’t see how that can be a criticism of the Duke rather than a criticism of Chinese operatives. It’s a bit mystifying.”