The Prince and Princess of Wales have shared their 2024 Christmas card photo a little later this year and it features them, Prince George, Charlotte and Louis around one of the most significant moments of the entire year.
Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the Prince and Princess of Wales’s annual festive card which always features a special snap of the family. Over the years we’ve seen Prince William, Kate, Prince George, Charlotte and Louis beaming during a sunny holiday in Jordan in 2021, and sitting happily in front of an autumnal log pile at Anmer Hall in 2020. The future King and Queen usually share their Christmas card photo on social media in early to mid December, but this year they waited a little longer.
Their 2024 Christmas card picture is a still from the heart-warming video by Will Warr that was released alongside Kate’s announcement that she had completed her cancer treatment. The picture shows her, Prince William, George Charlotte and Louis with their arms round each other in Norfolk.
In a perhaps unintentional nod to their 2020 Christmas photo, this one shows them all sitting on a pile of logs in the picturesque countryside on a sunshine-filled day. At first glance this picture is already an adorable snapshot of a special day spent together during Prince George, Charlotte and Louis’s school holidays. However, Kate and Prince William’s choice of this particular photo is particularly significant given the pivotal moment this represents.
Although they could have decided to have a new picture taken or gone for one from a different time, the Prince and Princess of Wales chose this still from the video which publicly confirmed to the world that Kate had completed her treatment. This was such a meaningful video reflecting upon a hugely important moment in her life after all she’d gone through so far in 2024.
In her message, the Princess of Wales expressed "relief" at completing chemotherapy and spoke of how her perspective upon life has evolved.
"With humility, it also brings you face to face with your own vulnerabilities in a way you have never considered before, and with that, a new perspective on everything," she said. "This time has above all reminded William and me to reflect and be grateful for the simple yet important things in life, which so many of us often take for granted. Of simply loving and being loved."
Kate and Prince William’s Christmas card for 2024 captures this renewed focus on love and simplicity perfectly. It shines a light on their close family bond during a family day out in nature. This picture is also more candid than we traditionally see from the more official, posed royal Christmas cards and exudes warmth and happiness.
Giving it an extra special feel was the animation they added this year - something that we’ve not seen from the Wales’s Christmas card photo post before. For 2024 the family’s card was pictured displayed on a wooden table in front of a Christmas tree with animated snow falling gently downwards and giving it an even more festive and magical feel.
According to the BBC, the Wales family are already in Norfolk ahead of them spending Christmas Day with the royals at Sandringham House. This will likely be the next time Prince William, Kate, Prince George, Charlotte and Louis are seen in public, although we can’t help hoping they might release another special photo on Christmas Day too like they did last year.