Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor could yet have a starring role in the Royal Family’s Christmas celebrations and in a way that won’t leave a smile on anyone’s faces.
The disgraced brother of King Charles, who lost all his titles just weeks ago after further scandal, has become the main butt of a very British festive tradition: the Christmas cracker joke.
And two mottos featuring him have been named as the best of 2025 meaning they might just end up in a cracker being pulled at the royal dining table this Christmas.
The former prince is the focus of several swipes in the annual competition run by TV channel U&Gold (known before as Comedy Gold). It asks viewers every year to come up with Christmas cracker jokes and this year’s winner is all about Andrew.
The top cracker motto reads ”why is Andrew not writing any Christmas books?” and the punchline is ”he hasn’t got any titles!”
It’s the work of Ben Smith from Chelmsford in Essex. Andrew lost all his royal titles after King Charles removed his HRH and Prince and asked the Lord Chancellor to remove his other titles – Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh – from the Roll of Peerage. Since then, the eighth in line to the throne has been known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
Another joke in the top five is also about Andrew. This one placed fourth on the list and starts ”what do Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and a snowman have in common?” The answer ”they’re both out in the cold”.
The Royal Family most likely already have their crackers lined up but given Andrew’s dominance of the jokes now being told this festive season, he may end up having an unexpected presence at the Christmas dinner table at Sandringham.
It was already known that he wouldn’t be at the Royal Family’s Christmas celebrations at the Norfolk residence even though he is due to move into a grace and favour home on the estate there in the New Year having surrendered his lease on the thirty room Royal Lodge at Windsor at the same time that he lost his titles.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are expected to gather the Windsors at Sandringham where they will celebrate Christmas Day together. It’s not yet known whether Andrew’s two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will join them.
The princesses didn’t join the Royal Family at the recent Christmas carol service organised by the Princess of Wales at Westminster Abbey despite both having attended previously.
There was also no sign of any member of the wider Royal Family at the christening of Princess Beatrice’s daughter, Athena, at St. James’ Palace in London just a few days ago. However, the baptism was held privately and guests were only seen as they attended a pub lunch afterwards when only Beatrice, Eugenie and their closest friends and family were seen.
Princess Beatrice joined the Royal Family for Christmas in 2024 after cancelling her plans to travel to Italy on doctor’s advice as she entered the final stages of her pregnancy with Athena.
Princess Eugenie didn’t attend as she was with the family of her husband, Jack Brooksbank. Neither Andrew Mountbatten Windsor nor his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, were at the royal Christmas celebrations in 2024.
