Will the couple be spending Christmas at Sandringham?

WITH a dazzling ring on her finger and plans for a royal wedding well under way, it is a likely prospect that Meghan Markle will join the Royals at Sandringham for Christmas.

Now officially betrothed, it is thought unlikely that the 36-year-old American would be excluded from the formal celebrations.

If she does not spend Christmas in the UK with Prince Harry, he will have to attend the traditional church service on the Sandringham estate without her.

In 2010, shortly after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had got engaged, neither joined the Queen for Christmas at Sandringham. The Duke carefully managed to avoid the protocol by volunteering to work at RAF Valley in Anglesey, leaving the then Kate Middleton free to spend the holiday at home in Berkshire with her family. For Ms Markle though, there is no such easy alternative, and the couple will want to be together.

Last December, when their relationship was still relatively new, the couple spent a week together in the UK before Prince Harry dropped her at Heathrow so she could fly home to spend Christmas with her family.

If she is invited to join the Royal family in Norfolk this year, it will be a markedly different occasion.

The three-day event is steeped in tradition and follows a strict timetable: everything from the morning walk to lunch and presents has a time slot.

The throngs who gather to watch the Royal party make the chilly, 330ft walk to St Mary Magdalene Church will be eagerly anticipating a glimpse of Prince Harry’s fiancée. It would be the first time she will have been seen alongside senior members of the Royal family and a clear sign she had been welcomed into the fold.