It’s Christmas with the royals
Find out what the Windsors get up to over the festive period
Royal insider Penny Junor reveals all the intrigue of what really goes on when the Windsors get together. It may just surprise you!
Like most of us, the royal family has been doing the same thing at Christmas – including those embarrassing party games – for decades. The children, the cousins, the aunts and uncles, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren and all their assorted dogs descend upon Sandringham House for the traditional break that can turn into the most fraught two or three days of the year. That said, there are worse places to be cooped up. Sandringham is a grand house, fully staffed, with a huge garden in an area of outstanding natural beauty, near the Norfolk coast. It’s been in the family since
1862, when Edward VII fell in love with it, and the royals have been celebrating Christmas there for generations. It was where the Queen and her sister, Princess Margaret, spent Christmas as children, when it belonged to their grandparents, George V and Queen Mary. And the format today is very much as it was all those years ago, with the exchange of gifts on Christmas Eve – a hangover from their Germanic heritage – a walk to church on Christmas morning, charades after lunch and a shoot on Boxing Day. And there is always a large jigsaw puzzle on the go. Possibly the only innovation in the best part of a century is a charity football match that William and Harry instigated a few years ago. It’s played
on Christmas Eve between the home team – the estate workers – and the locals. The two princes usually take opposing sides and inevitably there is a lot of banter between them – William once asking the ref to give his brother a yellow card.
A LOVE OF DOGS
The young Princess Elizabeth was very fond of her grandfather. She called him Grandpa England and it was he who instilled in her a life-long love of horses – and dogs. Most of us associate corgis with the Queen, and dorgis (a cross between a corgi and a dachshund), because those are the dogs we have so often seen her with. She has never been without one since the age of seven, when she persuaded her father to buy one for the family; at times she has had as many as 10. But all these years she has been equally passionate about gundogs. She is one of the most experienced and respected breeders in the country; she is also a remarkably skilled handler. And the dogs love her.
The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the corgis traditionally arrive in Norfolk about a week before everyone else. Guests arrive throughout the day on Christmas Eve, which is when the festivities begin. Those invited to Sandringham are usually immediate family, which includes the late Princess Margaret’s children and grandchildren. They arrive in order of precedence, with the most senior royals, Charles and Camilla, usually last. Gifts are neatly laid out on a trestle table in the Red Drawing Room for later.
Once everyone has arrived, the Queen takes the children into the
White Drawing Room to put the final decorations on the tree; about 20ft tall, cut from the estate. They also have a silver artificial tree in the dining room.
At 5pm, the whole family gathers for afternoon tea, with sandwiches, scones and cakes. The Queen invariably slips the dogs, who scarcely leave her side, titbits from her plate. She does this at every meal. After tea, it’s time to open presents. Dinner that evening is served at 8pm; it is candlelit and formal. The women wear gowns and jewels, the men wear black tie, and the table is set with the finest china and glass. At around 10pm, the ladies and the dogs adjourn – as they would have done 100 years ago – leaving Prince Philip to serve
port or brandy to the men before everyone retires for the night; but no one goes to bed before the Queen.
CHANGING TRADITIONS
After breakfast on Christmas morning, the family head to St Mary’s Magdalene for the Christmas Day service, where they greet well-wishers. It’s one of the rare occasions when so many of the royal family are seen together in public.
Lunch is at 1pm. The menu never varies. They begin with shrimp or lobster salad, move on to roasted Norfolk turkey with all the trimmings, parsnips, carrots and Brussels sprouts, finishing with Christmas pudding and brandy butter.
At 3pm, they gather to watch the Queen’s Christmas broadcast together, after which they disperse until teatime. Some go for a walk, some watch a film. Dinner that night is a buffet with up to 20 different dishes to choose from.
Some traditions are changing with the arrival of new members. Last year, Harry announced that he would not be taking part in the Boxing Day shoot. Meghan disapproves. And in 2016, William and Kate took their children to spend Christmas with their other grandparents, the Middletons, in Bucklebury.
‘Dinner on Christmas Eve is candlelit and formal’