Battling the relentless downpour and the biting winds of fate, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor appeared solitary and drenched as he navigated Windsor Great Park on horseback this week.

This scene starkly contrasted with the rest of the Royal Family, who, a mere 20 miles away, were adorned in their finest attire, enjoying crackers and indulging in a lavish holiday luncheon.

The lack of an invitation to the monarch’s traditional pre-Christmas gathering for the extended family—including Andrew’s daughters—serves as a stark reminder of how much the former Duke of York’s status has diminished over the past year.

As his closest kin make their way to Sandringham for intimate festivities, 65-year-old Andrew, along with his former wife Sarah Ferguson, is preparing for one final holiday season at Royal Lodge before they are formally asked to leave.

In previous years, their expansive residence had been extravagantly decorated for Christmas, complete with baubles bearing the A&S monogram adorning the tree.

But six weeks after the King stripped Andrew of his titles and gave him his marching orders during the continuing fallout from his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, decorations at the 30-room mansion are said to look a tad half-hearted.

‘There is definitely an end-of-era feel,’ a source told the Daily Mail. ‘There’s not much to celebrate at the moment.’

A Christmas tree and a light touch of sparkle have been added downstairs. But given that Beatrice and Eugenie are not expected to join their banished parents on Christmas Day, the princesses’ old bedrooms, which in the past had their own Yuletide trees, have been left bare.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor rides in the rain in Windsor Park earlier this week, having not been invited the King’s annual pre-Christmas bash for the extended family

Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson are gearing themselves up for one last Christmas at Royal Lodge before they are royally booted out

Yet another sign of the Grinch-like mood at Royal Lodge is the absence of a staff party this year.

Gone, too, are the cheerful York family Christmas cards Andrew and Fergie used to send out by the dozen. With the long-divorced couple finally preparing to go their separate ways, 66-year-old Sarah, it is understood, has been signing her cards alone.

Those addressed to members of the Royal Family have been accompanied by a gushing personalised apology for her part in the fall of the House of York, including the desperate line: ‘I hope we’ll meet again.’

Whether or not Andrew can bear to sign cards with his new Mountbatten-Windsor name has not been revealed, but a source told the Daily Mail this week that the King’s brother is still struggling to come to terms with his new role as a private citizen.

Having already lost the titles of Prince, Duke, Earl and Baron, Mr M-B was quietly stripped of his last remaining honorary military title this week.

No longer a vice-admiral, the former naval helicopter pilot has suffered the final indignity of being reduced to the rank of commander (retired) Royal Navy.

But if his flunkeys no longer have to address him as Your Royal Highness, then, insiders tell the Daily Mail, Andrew still insists on being called ‘Sir’ by his staff.

‘He is struggling to come to terms with his loss of status and Lodge staff and visitors must still tug the forelock,’ says one.

‘Some don’t realise he still thinks he’s a prince.’

Indeed, Windsor Castle gardeners sent over to do some winter tidying at Royal Lodge last week are said to have been on the receiving end of an expletive-laden rollicking when Mountbatten-Windsor inspected their work and wasn’t offered the deference he thinks is still due to him.

In the run-up to Christmas, the late Queen’s son has also had to endure the humiliation of allowing Crown Estate executives and staff from the Royal Collection – custodians of the vast collection of art held in trust for the nation – to inspect the home where he has lived, in return for a peppercorn rent, for the past 22 years.

A Royal Household lorry has already been seen removing items to a Windsor storage facility. Andrew has been told he can’t take any Crown-owned treasures when he moves to his new home. More later of where – and, more crucially, when – that might be.

While Sarah Ferguson and Andrew used to send out Christmas cards by the dozen, Sarah, it is understood, has been signing her cards alone as the long-divorced couple finally prepare to go their separate ways

Neither of the former duke and duchess’s daughters are due to visit their parents at Royal Lodge this year

For this is by no means the first time that the ex-Yorks – known as ‘the odd couple’ by the rest of the Royal Family – have found themselves alone at Christmas. Last year they both diplomatically stayed away from Sandringham in the wake of revelations about Andrew’s friendship with a Chinese businessman branded a spy by the security services.

Since the Royal Lodge chef had already booked a holiday, assuming the couple would be in Norfolk, they were apparently forced at the last-minute to pay ‘a small fortune’ to another member of staff to produce a full-blown Christmas lunch and a ‘cold supper collation’.

According to the insider who spoke to the Daily Mail: ‘The dining table was fully and festively decorated, Christmas cake and mince pies were sent over from Windsor and the butler served as usual. There was an awful lot of waste.’

Given that Andrew’s access to the Windsor Castle kitchens has now been blocked by the King and he is unlikely to don an apron and cook his own lunch, he may well have to do the same this year.

Last year, Fergie recorded her own spur-of-the-moment 2024 Christmas message, filmed on her mobile by Andrew in the grounds of Royal Lodge as the couple walked the late Queen’s corgis and later posted on Instagram.

Refusing to be cowed by the circumstances she and her ex-husband found themselves in, she expressed support for those ‘all over the world feeling low or sad’ and urged them to ‘take some joy bubbles from us here. We’re sending you so much love and you must keep finding the joy’. Notably absent were the couple’s daughters. Beatrice had been due to go to abroad but, heavily pregnant, was advised not to fly and ended up reinstating herself last minute on the King’s Sandringham guest list, a shock for Sarah who thought she might come to Royal Lodge. Eugenie, meanwhile, spent the festive season at the home in Portugal she shares with her husband, Jack Brooksbank, and sons August, four, and two-year-old Ernest.

In yet another blow for their beleaguered parents, neither sister is due to visit Royal Lodge this year either.

The last time the four met up was at the intimate christening of 37-year-old Beatrice’s youngest daughter Athena Mapelli Mozzi a fortnight ago.

But in yet more evidence of how far the House of York has fallen, Andrew and Sarah were spirited into the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace, hidden away in the back of a car. Mindful, no doubt, of the backlash that followed when they were photographed laughing at the funeral of the Duchess of Kent, they also chose to stay away from a post-christening lunch held in their new grand-daughter’s honour at a Mayfair restaurant.

Despite their parents’ calamitous downfall, the couple’s two daughters have held on to their own HRH titles.

While not insisting that ‘Pa’ and ‘Mumsy’ bow and curtsey to them from now on, the sisters have demonstrated a keen sense of self-preservation in recent months, keeping their distance from Royal Lodge and aligning themselves closely with their highly supportive uncle, the King, who has invited them both to Sandringham this year.

While both are said to feel deeply sorry for their parents and concerned for their wellbeing, Eugenie, 35, looks set once again to be in Portugal with her own family.

Beatrice, meanwhile, is said to be torn between accepting Charles’s invitation and staying at her £3.5million Cotswolds farmhouse home.

What she decides will probably influence Sarah’s movements on Christmas Day. If her daughter is at home the former duchess may go there, but if Beatrice is at Sandringham then it would be logical to stay at Royal Lodge.

But whether they’re together on the big day or not, royal biographer Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled: The Rise And Fall Of The House Of York, reckons Andrew and Fergie will be taking advantage of their last festive hurrah ‘to do all sorts of entertaining’.

Whether or not Andrew can bear to sign cards with his new Mountbatten-Windsor name has not been revealed, but a source told the Daily Mail this week that the King’s brother is still struggling to come to terms with his new role as a private citizen 

Andrew and Fergie were apparently forced at the last-minute to pay ‘a small fortune’ to another member of staff to produce a full-blown Christmas lunch and a ‘cold supper collation’

‘There are friends that go a long way back and have stuck with them,’ he said this week. According to the source who spoke to the Daily Mail: ‘There is to be some sort of party for their last remaining friends over Christmas. I’m not sure they’ve labelled it a ‘farewell’ party, but it very much looks like a last hurrah.’

Perhaps that explains the large alcohol delivery this week, which is unlikely to be for Andrew, who has been teetotal for years.

Christmas Day itself, however, looks set to be a quiet affair whether there are one or two of them sitting down for Christmas lunch. Andrew, who despite everything that has befallen him, still reveres the Crown, is likely to sit down in front of the TV at 3pm to watch the King’s speech.

And while he will notably not be among the members of the Royal Family walking to the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Sandringham on Christmas morning, as a regular church-goer he is likely to attend mass at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, close to Royal Lodge, or, as sometimes happens, be visited at home by the chaplain for Holy Communion.

If 2025 has been his very own ‘annus horribilis’ then, alas, 2026 looks set to be just as challenging for both him and Sarah.

Amid rumours of a move either to a converted cattle shed in the garden of Beatrice’s Cotswolds home or to join Eugenie in Portugal, Fergie is said to have been frantically decluttering, with experts called in to help her dispose of mounds of confidential paperwork. Staff are also said to be helping her sort through dozens of unopened Amazon boxes hoarded by the notoriously extravagant former duchess.

Andrew, however, is still showing no sign of packing, despite growing speculation that he is en route for a ramshackle farmhouse on the Sandringham Estate. His now famous collection of 72 teddies remains defiantly laid out in size order across his bed.

If he is dragging his heels then, by law, he is not compelled to leave Royal Lodge until October 2026, having given 12 months’ notice to quit two months ago.

Significantly smaller than Royal Lodge, Marsh Farm, the new abode said to have been earmarked for him, is on a remote part of the King’s estate, around seven miles from the main house, and needs renovating to make it fit for a man who, despite being downgraded to commoner status, hasn’t lost any of his royal tastes. A no-fly zone has already been extended to include the property and keep away any prying drones.

While there may be no way left for Andrew to return to public life, the King’s attitude to his brother is said to be softening.

‘To the frustration of courtiers, he refuses to cast him out into the darkness and see him confined to a lonely cottage, but plans to allow him access to the big house itself, as well as including him in shooting parties and the like,’ says the Daily Mail’s source.

Even so, friends of the former duke say it is unlikely he will stay holed up in Norfolk full-time, and a move to the Middle East, where ‘Sandy Andy’ has long-established business contacts, might also be on the cards. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is said to have offered him the use of a palace in Abu Dhabi. Bahrain is also among the destinations he is rumoured to be considering.

Before then, as their days at Royal Lodge draw to a close, he and Fergie will have to work out how to divvy up those A&S monogrammed baubles, which they were given for their first married Christmas in 1986.

Much water, of course, has passed under the bridge since that happy day, and who knows what the future holds for them – or what dramas may come in 2026?