‘I’ve celebrated Christmas every day for 30 years – Queen Camilla is my biggest fan’

Christmas is a busy time for many of us, with meals to plan, presents to buy and wrap, and decorations to put up. The holiday can be exhausting. So spare a thought for Andy Park, who has celebrated Christmas every single day for the past 31 years.

Andy, known internationally as “Mr Christmas” for his devotion to the festive season, has become such a holiday icon that even presidents and royals know his name. He exclusively told the Daily Express that Queen Camilla had proudly declared that she knew him after the subject of “Mr Christmas” came up at a royal reception.

He explains that is the next celebrity that he wants to invite to Christmas dinner. “He’d be funny, he’d have some amazing ideas,” Andy says.

Word of Andy’s incredible exploits has apprently reached the ears of America’s next president. “I’m in touch with Camilla Parker-Bowles,” Andy claims. “She’s very local to me now.

“She often talks about me, and she did say that it was mentioned, when met [the late Queen Elizabeth II]. They were talking about me, and [Camilla] put her hand up and said ‘I know the guy!’”

Andy cooks a full Christmas diner every day, and toasts the season with a bottle of Champagne. He explains that he finances his unique lifestyle by working as an electrician: “I work on domestic appliances, refurbish them and sell them on.”

Andy has also released a string of Christmas singles featuring celebrities such as Slade’s Dave Hill – although most of the revenue from his records goes to charitable causes.

But a lot of Andy’s time and effort goes into planning his daily Christmas. Even in high summer he sources all the traditional ingredients: “I get the frozen turkeys, I know a butcher in the town, and the veg – I get the sprouts and the carrots and the turnips.

“I’ve always got my mince pies. You can buy a pack of mince pies for £1.20, it works out the same as a Chinese takeaway.” Things like mince pies can be hard to source in the summer, but Andy knows someone that can make them.

Of course, many of us will be thinking about taking some time off in the summer – and Andy is no exception. But there are a few conditions before he books his summer getaway: “I’ll go away on one condition. The place I’m staying, they must they be able to play the DVD of the Queen’s Speech or the King’s Speech.”

Andy has an extensive collection of Christmas-themed entertainment, adding : “I always carry a DVD of the speech or speech show I must watch every day because Christmas isn’t Christmas without that

“And I often watch the Christmas films in the daytime.” He lists It’s a Wonderful Life and The Santa Clause among his favourites. While they’re not strictly Christmas films, Andy will also sometimes make time for family blockbusters such as Mrs Doubtfire or Ghost that he says have become Christmas season classics.

It all started in 1993. Andy explains: “I put the decorations up, I put the tree up. It was July 14 – I remember it like it was yesterday. I made it look really Christmassy in my house. The sun was shining and I got a Christmas dinner cooking.

“I found an old VHS copy of the Queen’s Speech, and it really did feel like Christmas Day.”

Andy had “always wanted” to make himself a unique year-round Christmas, he reveals. “Something drove me to do it, I think I was out delivering a washing-machine and I thought ‘I’ll put some decorations up,’ and it looked really nice in my living-room – it was fantastic, I never looked back.”

Andy’s decision on that day has led to a lifelong obsession – and TV appearances as well as visits from celebrities such as Joey Essex who are keen to share in his one-of-a kind lifestyle. With royals and presidents counted among his fans, Andy will have no shortage of guests to share his turkey dinners of years to come.