FROM THE EDITOR

In the past few years, I’ve added quite a strange Christmas tradition to my list – an eager await for the night of the Queen’s Diplomatic Reception, held at Buckingham Palace in early December each year.

I think it boils down to the fact that I love tiara-watching and every year this event really delivers – the royals all look like true Christmas princesses and princes, plus Kate seems to now always wear my favourite tiara – the gorgeous Lover’s Knot (which, of course, belonged to Princess Diana).

Each year, it sparks the office debate about which tiara we all personally prefer (the Greville Tiara, favoured by Camilla, is always on the list, along with the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara, which the Queen wore to her wedding) and then we come back down to earth and worry about deadlines, the Christmas madness and how we’ll manage to keep our sanity.

This year I’ve tried something new and have now knocked off most of my Christmas shopping list by doing it online.

Although now I’m not sure that I’ve saved myself any stress at all, as the worry now begins as to whether any of it will actually turn up in time – or even at all!

I hope you’re managing to keep a cool head during this stressful time of year (do send me an email or letter if you’d like to take 10 minutes out and put your head in the clouds pondering which tiara you’d wear to next year’s royal event! It’s a surprisingly nice way to step away from the stress for a while!)

Enjoy your week!