Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson have reportedly been informed that they are not invited to spend Christmas with the Royal Family, following a new controversy linked to the convicted financier Jeffrey Epstein, according to insider sources.

King Charles, who is 76, reportedly prefers to distance himself from the Duke and Duchess of York, both aged 65, after it was revealed by the Mail on Sunday that Ferguson wrote to Epstein to apologize for previously severing ties with him.

It is also claimed by insiders that Andrew and his former spouse, who continue to reside at Royal Lodge in Windsor despite their 1996 divorce, have been advised to remain ‘unnoticeable’ at future royal events.

It comes after Charles asked the Duchess of York to help convince Andrew to ‘do the decent thing’ and avoid the Royal Family’s Christmas gathering last year after it emerged the Duke had become close with alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.

The Yorks spent last Christmas together at Royal Lodge instead, but they were not joined by their daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. 

A source close to the King told The Sunday Times: ‘You can’t sack someone from being your brother. 

‘But this year, if the duke and duchess were both to be as honourable [as last year], it would be very much for the best and the family would not be disappointed, not least to avoid the King having to make any more difficult decisions.’

It follows several charities dropping the Duchess in the wake of the Mail’s exposé last week, which laid bare how she cynically lied when she pledged to cut ties with Epstein.

Just weeks after publicly disowning him, she then wrote him a gushing private message calling him a ‘steadfast, generous and supreme friend’ – and admitting she only distanced herself from him to save her own reputation.

The Duchess ‘humbly apologised’ to the convicted sex offender for letting him down, and said she had been told to speak out if she wanted to save her career as a children’s author.

She sent the grovelling message ‘from the truth of my heart’, less than two months after telling journalists: ‘I will never have anything to do with [Epstein] again.’

The Duchess’s friends say she was ‘devastated for any embarrassment’ caused by the latest scandal and ‘will explain herself to the wider Royal Family in due course’.

Sources close to the King have told The Sunday Times that the monarch would prefer if Andrew and Fergie keep out of sight when appearing at family events by arriving and leaving through discreet entrances where possible.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment. 

Earlier this month, the Yorks very much made their presence known at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral at Westminster Cathedral.

After the emotional service, Andrew was seen howling with laughter and trying to speak to Prince William, who appeared to ignore his disgraced uncle.

The Prince of Wales is understood to consider his uncle a ‘risk’ and ‘threat’ to the monarch and is said to fully support his father’s stance.

Charles and William are thought to have spoken about the latest scandal during their weekend together in Scotland. 

A source said the King is ‘not of the mind to banish someone’, but would hope the Yorks can ‘find a more discreet way of attending these events’.

‘In the Duke of York’s case, he seems to relish the prospect of not being low-key about it,’ they added. 

Fergie had recently made a return to the royal fold after bouncing back from several embarrassments over the years – including being photographed having her toes sucked by US financial adviser Johnny Bryant as well as being caught in a sting offering access to her ex-husband for an alleged £500,000.

But she was invited to join the Royal Family’s Christmas gatherings in 2022 and 2023, her first invitations for three decades. She also joined the family’s traditional walk from Sandringham house to church alongside Andrew, Beatrice and Eugenie in 2023.

Andrew stepped down as a working royal over the scandal involving his friendship with Epstein in 2019. It followed a disastrous Newsnight interview about his relationship with Epstein and questions over his relationship with Virginia Giuffre who claimed she was sexually assaulted by the Duke three times when she was 17.

Andrew, who always denied the allegations, agreed an out-of-court settlement with Ms Giuffre, believed to be worth around £12million. Ms Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked by Epstein, took her own life in April aged 41.

New files showing phone message logs, copies of flight logs and manifests for aircraft, as well as copies of financial ledgers belonging to Epstein were released by Congressional Democrats in the US on Friday night, naming Andrew, as well as billionaire Elon Musk, among them.

The Mail revealed last night how Princess Beatrice is said to have ‘lost all hope’ of becoming a working Royal thanks to the deepening scandal engulfing her parents.

Friends of Beatrice, the eldest daughter Andrew and Fergie, say she would have been keen to help ease the burden on Charles and William by carrying out more Royal engagements.

The King is said to have been impressed by her elegance and enthusiasm during recent joint appearances and is keenly aware of the need to boost the number of working Royals as he continues to be treated for an undisclosed form of cancer and the Princess of Wales recovers from her own battle with the disease.

But with his strict stance against half-in-half-out Royals working for the Firm, nothing yet has ever come of their mutual appreciation. Now aides insist nothing ever will.

The Mail on Sunday understands that courtiers have concerns about further damaging revelations that will emerge about the duke’s relationship with the convicted paedophile after reports that the Epstein Files contain a cache of more than 100 emails that ‘could destroy Andrew’.  

A source close to her said: ‘Beatrice does want to be a working Royal and she wants to do Royal events to help her uncle because she’d enjoy them and she would be good at the job.

‘Charles apparently appreciates this . . . There had at one stage been a feeling that Bea could have been lined up one day. She’s never put a foot wrong, don’t forget – and she shouldn’t be punished for the sins of her father. But the King’s courtiers are concerned Andrew could try to ‘get in via the back door’ by exerting influence over her.’