A Happy Christmas is full of time-honored traditions
It’s Christmas again, the time of year when British royals generally step up their round of good work and cheery public appearances before disappearing to private celebrations, far from prying eyes. This year is no different.
Routine is built into royal life, especially for senior royals such as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles the Prince of Wales, whose busy schedules are usually laid out for them months or years in advance.
Each royal year has a certain rhythm: Easter at Windsor Castle, Trooping the Colour and Royal Ascot in June, the annual eight-week holiday at Balmoral in Scotland in late summer, Remembrance Day in November, and Christmas always at Sandringham House.
❚ Sandringham: For the past three decades, the queen has hosted her sprawling family at her private estate in Norfolk for the Christmas and New Year holidays. There they exchange cheap gag gifts and sit down to a black-tie Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve.
Why Christmas at Sandringham? It’s a private country mansion, unlike Windsor Castle, some of which is open to the public. Unlike Windsor, it’s about two hours away by train from London and the media.
Most important, Sandringham is much-loved by the queen and her family, including her father and grandfather, both of whom died there. ❚ Where does the Cambridge clan
spent Christmas? Prince William and Duchess Kate of Cambridge and their three children, Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and baby Prince Louis, have a country retreat, Anmer Hall, nearby on the estate, gifted to them by the queen.
Their retreat allows them to participate in the Christmas festivities at Sandringham House while also hanging out with their three small children .
❚ Will and Kate take Christmas
cheer to military families: The Cambridges went all the way to Cyprus to say Merry Christmas to Royal Air Force families. First, on Dec. 4, they hosted a holiday party at Kensington Palace for families whose loved ones are serving at a British base on the island.
The following week, the royal pair visited the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, for which Kate is the new royal patron, and the homeless resource center The Passage, where they visited with children and staff in settings decorated for Christmas. ❚ Duchess Meghan’s Christmas appearance: In keeping with her former career as an actress (USA’s “Suits”), she made a solo visit to the Royal Variety Charity’s residential nursing and care home, Brinsworth House in London, on Dec. 18 to bring holiday cheer to three dozen residents, including singing carols around a Christmas tree. ❚ Camilla’s Christmas tradition: Duchess Camilla of Cornwall, the second wife of Prince Charles, is a big fan of Christmas. Every year in early December she hosts a children’s lunch party at Clarence House in London where the kids help her decorate the palace Christmas tree.
❚ The queen’s Christmas lunch: The week before Christmas, the queen hosts a huge festive lunch for her extended family at Buckingham Palace, including those who will not be at Sandringham. This gives the monarch an opportunity to catch up with relatives she might not see regularly during the year.
❚ The royal Christmas cards: Every year, Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla, Will and Kate, and now Harry and Meghan send out Christmas cards featuring family photos.
But it’s the card from the queen that counts. Every year, she and Prince Philip send about 750, usually featuring a family photo, to family, friends and members of the Royal Household staff, along with others such as British and Commonwealth prime ministers, governors-general and high commissioners.
❚ The royal Christmas trees: The tradition of decorating trees at Christmas was popularized by British royals, specifically Queen Victoria and her German-born husband Prince Albert, both of whom had grown up with the custom. Her German ancestors introduced the idea to the English and her German mother continued it. By the 1860s it was a thing, with hundreds of trees being sold in Covent Garden.