The Wales family has endured a difficult 2024, with Princess Kate confirming her cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
The 42-year-old mother of three has spent most of the year out of the spotlight, taking a temporary step back from duties to focus on her recovery. And now having completed her chemotherapy treatment, she has started her gradual return to work.
"The last nine months have been incredibly tough for us as a family," Princess Kate announced in a health update earlier this year. "Life as you know it can change in an instant and we have had to find a way to navigate the stormy waters and road unknown."
However, despite her encouraging recovery, the Wales family is still reportedly taking it day by day, with sources revealing that they will be celebrating Christmas in a more low key way than usual.
Yes, while the family of five will be spending the holidays on the Sandringham Estate along with their extended family, they will reportedly be spending a lot of their time at their Anmer Hall home, rather than at Sandringham House with the rest of the Mountbatten-Windsors. And they are even hosting their own guests, with Princess Kate's parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, joining them for Christmas.
The Prince and Princess of Wales' staff will reportedly also be included in the celebrations, with a source explaining that the senior royals "treat their staff like family".
"[Prince William and Princess Kate] are paternalistic with their staff," royal biographer Robert Lacey explained in his 2020 book, Battle of Brothers, via The Sun.
“They copy The Queen in that respect with all her Christmas parties and Christmas presents to her people - they’re proud to treat their staff like family," he continued. "They recognise that they don’t get paid loads of money, so they are just really nice to them."
Well, this is lovely.
We will continue to update this story.
