Princess Anne was unable to attend the Christmas Day service at Sandringham with other members of the Royal Family due to a cold, it is understood.
The 72-year-old is often dubbed the ‘hardest working royal’ and carried out 214 engagements this year alone.
But she was absent from the church service which was attended King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Her children Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips were among the family members who were greeted by crowds at the Norfolk estate.
It’s understood Princes Anne was suffering from a cold, the Daily Mirror reported.
Instead she took a well-deserved rest after a busy year in which she has mourned the passing of her mother.
She was also unable able to attend Kate’s Westminster Abbey carol service, which aired on Christmas Eve, although this was reportedly down to a conflict in schedules.
Anne couldn’t make the service as she was attending the London International Horse Show on December 15 when it took place.
The Prince and Princess of Wales’s children, George, Charlotte and Louis, were at the Christmas morning service at St Mary Magdalene Church.
Edward and Sophie Wessex with Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn as well as Princess Beatrice, her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and his son Wolfie were also present.
Disgraced Prince Andrew made a surprising public appearance despite reports King Charles had him ‘thrown out’ of Buckingham Palace.
Andrew was spotted alongside his youngest daughter Princess Eugenie.
It’s the family’s first Christmas without the late Queen following her death in September.
The former monarch had forgone the royal tradition of spending the season at Sandringham due to the Covid-19 pandemic by spending the last two Christmases at Windsor Castle.
