Our Christmas Day church services at Sandringham were a real giggle
IT IS an occasion intended to demonstrate family unity and the Queen’s position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, but Prince William reveals that the Christmas Day church service at Sandringham has not always been as sober as the public might imagine.
Beginning his walk at the 16th Century building, he says: ‘So we’re right outside St Mary Magdalene Church. The flag’s up and I’m right beside the door we normally go in as a family.
‘And what’s very good about it is that we sit opposite each other as a family and, growing up, having my cousins sat opposite me has always been quite difficult to keep a straight face at times.
‘I have had the giggles many, many times in the service. Luckily, no one’s filming it. So you can get away with it, and on Christmas Day it’s fun to have a giggle and enjoy yourself.’
William attended his first Sandringham Christmas Day church service in 1987, aged five, and took his eldest two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, for the first time in 2019. As well as banks of photographers and TV crews, large crowds are drawn by the lure of so many members of the Royal Family all together.
Looking ahead to the first Christmas without Prince Philip, William speaks fondly of his grandfather, who died in April, aged 99. William says: ‘My family spend their Christmases in Norfolk at Sandringham, in the UK. You’ve got big pine trees that are quite synonymous with this part of Norfolk. And I love the smell of pine in the winter. It’s very soothing.
‘As we’re walking along here, it’s been a walk that my family have done for many, many years on Christmas Day.
‘I have strong memories of walking down here, and my grandfather, he used to walk so fast that there’d be huge gaps and spaces between all of us, and there’d be us at the back with little legs trying to keep up.’