The year 2024 has proved something of an annus horribilis for the Windsors, with both King Charles III and the Princess of Wales battling serious health problems—but the general mood among the royal family appears to be one of optimism when looking ahead to 2025. It’s fitting, then, that the King and Queen are due to host a larger celebratory gathering at Sandringham this Christmas than ever before, with approximately 40 members of the clan heading to Norfolk from Christmas Eve onwards. It’s likely that the Prince and Princess of Wales will make an appearance with Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—although it’s conceivable that they will spend a quieter holiday at nearby Anmer Hall just the five of them, only joining the rest of the Windsors at St Mary Magdalene Church on Christmas morning. The public is guaranteed more than a glimpse of Kate, though, thanks to her carol service, Together at Christmas, pre-recorded at Westminster Abbey in early December and due to air on Christmas Eve. As for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex? It’s believed the couple will once again be celebrating at home in Montecito, California, with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Here, a breakdown of the royal family’s Christmas traditions through the centuries, and how they plan to mark the 25th in 2024.
The Trees
Famously, it’s an engraving depicting Queen Victoria and Prince Albert standing beside a Christmas tree at Windsor and published in the Illustrated London News in 1848 that inspired the wider British public to decorate evergreens each December, with Albert donating trees to schools and barracks near Windsor in lieu of the then-popular branch of mistletoe or ivory. In accordance with German tradition, the royal family would only bring their tree inside on Christmas Eve, decorating it with real candles, baubles, and homemade gingerbread, before opening presents.
Today, a 20-foot Norwegian spruce from Windsor Great Park is displayed in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle each year. Meanwhile, at Buckingham Palace, a trio of Christmas trees is placed in the Marble Hall and decorated by staffers in early December, with the King and Queen putting the finishing touches on their tree at Sandringham with the help of their loved ones on 24 December. (As the late Queen Elizabeth II said in her 2015 Christmas speech: “One of the joys of living a long life is watching one’s children, then grandchildren, then great-grandchildren, help decorate the Christmas tree.”) That’s before mentioning the tree that Camilla has installed in Clarence House each year, with children from Helen & Douglas House invited to help the Queen decorate it.
The Cards
Among the Windsors’ other festive traditions come December: sending out Christmas cards featuring a family photograph to around 1,000 people, a ritual the Cambridges and Sussexes have both adopted. In 2024, the King and Queen released one featuring a relaxed picture of themselves taken by Millie Pilkington among the rhododendrons of the Buckingham Palace gardens. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, meanwhile, incorporated six images from the last 12 months into their card—offering a glimpse of their family life in California with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Again, it was Victoria who first popularised sending festive cards in 1843, the same year as the publication of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, when the so-called “penny” post made sending letters more affordable.
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