Harry and Meghan making a royal fuss

WHETHER prince or pauper, Christmas for everyone is a familial minefield.

There is the invariable royal rumble as to whose in-laws’ turn it is for Christmas Day, the inevitable battle royale around dinner time seating plans, the stingy relative that turns up empty handed but leaves laden with gifts and grub, the whingy aunty and her annual telly rants, board game battles and, of course, when we all trot to bed in matching Christmas pyjamas who hasn’t said, ‘WE ARE GOING AWAY NEXT CHRISTMAS, ON OUR OWN’?

But of course next year rolls around, the older generation are older, new additions to the next generation of excited children have come along and the whole festive rigmarole begins again.

In every family there are relatives we avoid for the entire year but – for the sake of pleasing our parents, whose only Christmas wish is for the family to be all together ‘just for one day’ – you suck it up and put a smile on the faces of those who matter, because for some at the table it may very well be their last Christmas.

This is why the Sussexes’ decision not to join the Queen and the rest of the family at Sandringham on December 25 smacks of nothing more than two grown-up spoilt brats throwing their tarts and toys out of the pram.

Undoubtedly Harry and Meghan have endured a difficult year, most of which was entirely of their own making. But surely the joy of seeing a young Archie playing with his royal cousins would be enough for the royal family to put their personal differences aside and realise how lucky they are.

With the Queen and Prince Philip in the evening of their lives, these times are especially special and should be grasped and savoured. Snubbing Harry’s beloved granny is, I fear, a wound that will fester.