On Christmas morning, the royal family typically gather together at St Mary Magdalene Church before making their way home for a sumptuous holiday lunch.
One of the highlights of this annual tradition is the Windsors' stroll from Sandringham House to the service in Norfolk.
It's not just a time for family bonding.
The photos of the Windsors walking together to church are considered the most important of the year, a rare opportunity for the media to snap all the royals in a single frame.
They also tend to offer clues about what's going on within the family — and the way they want to be perceived by their subjects.
Last year, Prince Andrew made a splash when he was accompanied for the first time in 30 years by ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.
Both the Duke and Duchess of York have been besieged by scandals in recent years.
Their joint appearance on the walk was taken as a sign that both Andrew and his ex were being tentatively welcomed back into the fold by King Charles III.
After a tumultuous 2024, it was hoped this year's annual Christmas walk would be something of a reset for the family.
But Prince Andrew appears to have once again disrupted those plans.
The Duke of York has stirred controversy by revealing that after receiving advice from the government, he has "ceased all contact" with a businessman accused of being a Chinese spy.
In a statement, his office said Prince Andrew had met the man "through official channels" and there was "nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed".
The alleged spy, initially known only as H6, was described in court as having formed an "unusual degree of trust" with the duke.
He has since been banned from the UK following a judgement by the semi-secret national security court.
He was revealed on Monday as 50-year-old Yang Tengbo.
Queen Elizabeth II once described 1992 — a year when three of her children divorced and Windsor Castle burned down — as her "annus horribilis", or horrible year.
For her son Charles, 2024 may be his.
After a year in which the family endured illness, conspiracy theories and embarrassing financial revelations, the last thing the king needed was a December surprise.
But a late-breaking scandal involving his brother and a foreign spy suggests the Windsors will not be able to leave the drama behind in 2025.
Such is the intensity of scrutiny, British media outlets are reporting that Prince Andrew and his ex-wife will no longer be at Sandringham next week.
Prince Andrew's relationship with an alleged Chinese spy
For the past five years, Prince Andrew has been pushed to the very outskirts of the House of Windsor.
Whispers about his longstanding friendship with Jeffery Epstein exploded into a roar of outrage in 2019 when the American sexual predator died in police custody.
After a disastrous interview with the BBC in which Andrew did not apologise for his association with Epstein, the prince agreed to step back as a senior working royal.
With no public duties, no charitable patronages, and a famously tense relationship with his older brother, Andrew has been at something of a loose end for the past few years.
Enter the alleged Chinese spy.
In 2023, a man referred to in court papers only as H6 was prevented from flying from Beijing to London and he was later barred from entering the UK because the government ruled his presence would not be conducive to the public good.
H6 appealed against the decision last week, but the Special Immigration Appeals Commission found he "attempted to conceal or downplay" his links to an organisation that gathers intelligence for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In rejecting his appeal, the judges mentioned that H6 became a "close confidant" of Prince Andrew and had an "unusual degree of trust" with the king's brother.
H6 was "in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials that could be leveraged for political interference purposes by the CPP", the judges ruled.
On Monday, the court ruled to lift the suppression order on his identity, revealing the alleged spy as 50-year-old businessman Yang Tengbo.
It is unclear how Andrew came to meet Mr Yang, but the prince released a rare statement saying he "met the individual through official channels, with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed".
"The Duke of York followed advice from [His Majesty's Government] and ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised."
But the revelations in the ruling show that Mr Yang made a concerted effort to bond with the prince.
A letter found on Mr Yang's phone showed that Dominic Hampshire, an adviser to Prince Andrew, said he tried hard to arrange discreet meetings between the two men.
"Under your guidance, we found a way to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor," the letter said.
Mr Hampshire did not say who the people were or give the reason for potential distrust.
In the same letter, he also stressed the importance of the friendship between Yang Tengbo and the prince.
"Outside of [the prince's] closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on," he wrote.
According to the ruling, Mr Yang and Prince Andrew were in talks to work on a joint business venture that would involve "potential partners and investors in China".
A document found on Mr Yang's phone listed "main talking points" for a call with Prince Andrew.
"IMPORTANT: Manage expectations. Really important to not set 'too high' expectations — he is in a desperate situation and will grab onto anything," the document stated.
Amid revelations Yang Tengbo came into contact with former prime ministers David Cameron and Theresa May, British MPs have demanded the government explain how the suspected spy was allowed to come and go from the UK over so many years without intervention.
"It demonstrates, I'm afraid, that the Chinese state is extremely clear that what its ambition is is to secure influence over foreign countries," Tom Tugendhat, who was security minister under Rishi Sunak, told the UK Telegraph.
While Andrew insists there were no security breaches during his dealings with Yang Tengbo, the revelation caps off a hard year for his family.
Royal missteps highlight a difficult year
This year began with a frenzy of speculation and conspiracy theories online about the disappearance of Princess Catherine.
After a month of rumours, which varied from harmless suggestions she was growing out her fringe to more scandalous claims, the princess was forced to release a video revealing she was coming to terms with a "shock" cancer diagnosis.
It followed the news that King Charles was suffering his own health condition and would be briefly withdrawing from the spotlight.
With two senior royal members recovering from health battles, it was hardly the introduction to 2024 that the Windsors were looking for.
But for the last quarter of the year, it appeared as if the royal family was ready for a fresh start and to shift the conversation about the monarchy to more positive endeavours.
After returning to public duties on April 30, King Charles and his wife Queen Camilla made their way to Australia and Samoa for a highly anticipated royal tour on October 18.
The six-day visit involved meeting political and community leaders and marked the monarch's first tour as king to one of the 14 realms where he remains head of state.
The optics of the trip were of critical importance to the palace, especially after the king's illness and brief absence.
In addition to being an opportunity to showcase the monarchy and engage in soft-power diplomacy, it was a chance for the public to see Charles looking well and engaging with his subjects.
But before Charles and Camilla even touched down in Sydney, anti-monarchists had jokingly referred to the king and queen's visit as a "goodbye tour".
While there is no immediate likelihood of a referendum on a republic, the highlights of the trip were somewhat overshadowed by senator Lidia Thorpe's "f*** the colony" protest in parliament, a scene that made headlines around the world.
King Charles appeared unbothered by the display but it was another reminder of the delicate nature of royal tours at a time of growing backlash towards Britain's colonial legacy.
Another opportunity for a reset came in November when Prince William used a trip abroad to lay out his vision for a future monarchy.
He outlined how the transition would involve the royal family pivoting towards what the prince described as a more "empathetic" approach, including more philanthropy, collaboration, convening, and helping people.
"To give you more of an understanding around it, I'm doing it with maybe a smaller R in the royal, if you like. That's maybe a better way of saying it," he told reporters at the end of his Cape Town trip.
It came fresh on the heels of a documentary about his Homewards project, a program he hopes will help end homelessness in six locations across the United Kingdom.
But the prince's ambitious plans were derailed by questions about the financial arrangements of his family's estates and revelations that tenants living on land belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall had complained that their homes were poorly insulated and riddled with black mould.
Now, with just two weeks until the end of the year, another scandal is looming. And this one may be trickier to resolve than others.
A tricky issue for King Charles to solve
Prince Andrew remains a perennial issue for King Charles to solve as both a brother and monarch.
Along with recent scandals, the two brothers have privately been at loggerheads for most of the year over the Duke of York's security detail and his residence in a stately home on the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Dubbed by tabloids as the siege of Royal Lodge, the real estate drama made its way into the public domain when unnamed sources quoted by tabloids speculated the new king was making moves to push his brother out of the mansion.
It escalated further when King Charles reportedly threatened to cut Prince Andrew's security as a way of forcing his brother to find less expensive lodgings, preferably Prince Harry and Meghan's former residence, Frogmore Cottage.
Unable to find a compromise that suited both men, the status of Prince Andrew's lodgings was in doubt until a breakthrough last month.
The Duke of York provided proof to palace authorities he had the funds to maintain the estate, The Times reported.
It was reportedly approved by Sir Michael Stevens, the keeper of the privy purse, as coming from legitimate sources. But there are ongoing questions about how Prince Andrew can maintain the costs of the upkeep of his home and whether he has been aided by a mysterious donor.
Once dubbed "Air Miles Andy" for his penchant for luxury air travel, the Duke of York has earned a reputation for his spending habits.
He was once entitled to an annual tax-free salary of nearly $450,000, taken directly from Queen Elizabeth II's private estate, the Duchy of Lancaster, but royal author Robert Hardman said Charles cut him off from any allowances when he became king.
It is not clear whether Prince Andrew inherited any money from Prince Philip or Queen Elizabeth after their deaths.
He still earns a $36,000 naval pension but it is reportedly not enough to cover the maintenance expenses required under his lease arrangements for the Royal Lodge.
"Outside of the direct line of the ascendancy to the throne — [King] Charles and Prince William — peripheral family members are severely under-financed and have limited options on how commercial they can be to make money," an unnamed source previously told Vanity Fair.
King Charles may have hoped that by cutting off the duke, he would face less awkward questions about his brother.
The murky nature of Prince Andrew's financial situation and the search for new sources of income, however, may have played some role in making him a potential target of the alleged Chinese spy.
Experts suggest Charles may need to adopt a new strategy with his brother.
"It's very difficult to work out just what someone like Prince Andrew can do," Craig Prescott, a lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, told The Guardian.
"He'll continue to have this need for money and will always be on the hunt of it, you would imagine.
"The king has tried. He's offered him a soft landing of Frogmore Cottage, which would have reduced his security, reduced his running costs, reduced, you imagine, his need for money."
In the meantime, it appears Prince Andrew won't be among the 45 guests making the annual Christmas pilgrimage to Sandringham.
The Duke of York was privately urged to keep a low profile after the Chinese spy controversy to avoid overshadowing the event.
The BBC is reporting the Duke of York is now expected to "honourably withdraw" from royal family events at Christmas and will instead stay at home in Windsor.
