Live Like a Royal: Christmas

Royals are just like us, they all get together for the holidays, do a White Elephant and play games! The only difference, is that they do it at their estate in Sandringham, and well, the Queen is their grandmother. Royal holidays will see a big shift like all of ours this year, but their traditions every other year are the perfect model of festive, fancy fun.

Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards are very much a royal tradition and we love how “normal” they are - from family wedding photos, to black and white artistic shots in the 90’s and the more contemporary cards of the Cambridges. It’s one of the few times of the year we know we will get new images of royal children and possibly a peek at a moment we haven’t seen before.

The Queen and Prince Philip send around 1,000 cards total to family, friends, members of the royal household, high-ranking politicians and organizations they work closely with.

Location

While this year is different, since 1988 the family has all traveled to Sandringham, the Queen’s estate in the country 100 miles north of London, which includes 20,000-acres and . Everyone doesn’t stay there though, with the Cambridge’s staying at their house, Anmer Hall, on the estate with their kids (and sometimes skipping it altogether to spend the holidays with Kate’s family at their home in Bucklebury).

Guest List

All of the Queen and Prince Philip’s children and grandchildren are invited, although not everyone always attends especially now as the grandchildren get married and have their own families. Everyone typically arrives on Christmas Eve, and in a very specific order based on seniority. In-laws are not usually included although Meghan’s mother was invited when she and Harry were only just engaged!

There is also a big pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace, which includes the larger extended family (around 50 people) a week or two before the holiday.

Church

One of my favorite royal traditions, is that they all walk to St. Mary Magdalene church on the estate together on Christmas morning, giving us some of the best photos of the full family (except the Queen who is driven and receives a private communion early)! Since the Queen is the head of the Church of England, this is especially important for her, and is also a great opportunity for them to present a united front.

In addition to Christmas day church duties, the Queen gives Christmas trees to Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Giles' Cathedral and the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, along with somechurches and schools in the Sandringham area.

ActivitiES

On Christmas Eve, they all decorate the tree together which includes Queen Victoria's glass angels, and exchange gifts at teatime (more below). There is a decidedly “adults only” black tie dinner on Christmas Eve, with six courses and a menu written in French.

After they attend the second church service, the family head back to Sandringham House for a lunch, which is followed by watching the Queen’s Christmas Speech at 3pm (it’s filmed in advance). At night, they have a buffet-style turkey dinner and play games like charades.

On Boxing Day, many of the family members go shooting on the extensive estate grounds.

Gifts

What do you buy your millionaire family members who have everything? The answer is gag gifts! While royal kids get to have a full Christmas morning, the adults typically try to out-do each other with gag gifts, such as the “grow a girlfriend” Kate infamously got for Harry and the shower cap Harry bought the Queen that said “Ain’t Life a Bitch” on it. They also give them on Christmas Eve, a German tradition, during teatime (late afternoon).

The Queen personally hands out presents to some members of the royal household at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor Castle to thank them for their service, which usually includes long-serving staff members or employees who had a very successful year. A total of around 1500 staff also get a small gift and a “Christmas pudding” from Tesco, that get mailed to staff throughout the palaces, staff in the Court Post Office and palace police. Each pudding is accompanied by a greeting card from the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.