On 1 December, Buckingham Palace announced that Her Majesty and Prince Philip will be breaking with recent royal tradition to spend Christmas “quietly” at Windsor, rather than their Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.
But what does a typical Christmas look like for the Royal Family? Here’s what the Windsor’s usually get up to over the festive period…
Driving home for Christmas
First off, the Queen and Prince Philip head to Sandringham a week before the actual day. Rather than take the more expensive private royal train from London, the Queen prefers to take over a carriage of a normal scheduled King’s Cross to King’s Lynn train - something she’s often been pictured doing.
Once there, the family members who are invited to join them arrive on Christmas Eve - with each unit allocated a specific time to arrive as Her Majesty doesn’t want everyone turning up at once.
According to Tatler, arrival times reflect status within the family, with junior members arriving first and the most senior members last.
Royal biographer, Ingrid Seward admitted the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, was “terrified” of her first royal Christmas.
Festive footy and presents
According to royal Christmas traditions, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, and Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, play a very competitive game of Christmas Eve football against the staff at Sandringham. Mostly they play on opposing teams, but now and again they play on the same side.
After kicking up a sweat the royals adhere to a German Christmas tradition introduced by Prince Albert, by exchanging their presents on Christmas Eve.
The official Royal website states: “On Christmas Eve, The Royal Family lay out their presents on trestle tables and will exchange their gifts at teatime.”
All members of The Royal Household also receive Christmas presents from the Queen, with Her Majesty personally handing out gifts to some members of The Royal Household at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor Castle.
Christmas Eve feast
The entire family sit down for a formal Christmas Eve dinner, where all guests are expected to wear black-tie or evening gowns.
According to the Channel 5 documentary, it's a six-course, candle-lit meal, with the menu often written in French.
For dessert, former royal chef Darren McGrady said the family would tuck into a traditional Yule Log coated in a chocolate ganache as the Queen “loves chocolate.”
Christmas morning
Like most of us, the Queen is up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Day, but not to rip open her presents.
Every year Her Majesty is driven to St Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham - a country church visited by the Queen's great great grandmother, Queen Victoria - to receive Communion privately.
At 11am sharp, the rest of the team join her and, while Princess Charlotte stole the show last year dressed in a green Amaia button-up coat, a lot of thought goes into Her Majesty’s Christmas outfit.
According to Angela Kelly, the Queen’s official dresser who published a book on the subject this year, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, The Dresser and the Wardrobe, there are multiple outfit changes that occur on Christmas Day - and the preparations begin months in advance.
In the book, Kelly reveals: “The Queen is just as busy as she would be in London, with more guests to entertain.
"There may be several outfit changes in one day – it could be as many as five or even up to seven, although that is rare – depending on the number of engagements, as well as the weather and temperature, which can change so quickly around Sandringham."
Christmas lunch fit for a Queen
Christmas Day wouldn’t be the same without a big lunch, and the royals are no different.
Their turkey dinner inevitably consists of shrimp or lobster salad starter, followed by, of course, roasted turkey and all the trimmings.
For pudding it’s a traditional Christmas pudding with brandy butter and - continuing the tradition from her father, King George VI and her grandfather, George V – The Queen also gives Christmas puddings to her staff.
According to the official royal website, about 1,500 Christmas puddings paid for by the Queen (through the Privy Purse) are distributed to staff throughout the Palaces, including the Court Post Office and the Palace police. Each pudding is accompanied by a greeting card from the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, which are hand-signed.
The Queen’s Speech
The Queen’s Christmas Message, which is broadcast to the 52 states in the Commonwealth, has been a running tradition for 88 years.
Back when it originated in 1932, it was called the King’s Christmas Message after King George V, who was the first monarch to broadcast this speech on the radio.
The speech is now pre-recorded a few weeks before Christmas and televised every year at 3pm on the BBC, ITV, Sky 1 and Sky News.
Even the Royal Family will sit down to watch Her Majesty’s message on the television, followed by charades and party games,.
The big Boxing Day shoot
One event that might go ahead as usual this year is the traditional Boxing Day shooting expedition.
Under government guidelines, shoots will still be allowed to take place in England as they are defined as an organised outdoor sport.
This means that up to 30 royals could potentially be in attendance for the yearly event, though Buckingham Palace said reports are “just speculation” and did not confirm any details.
