Before the pandemic, Queen Elizabeth hosted an annual pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace for the extended royal family. The core “senior royals” were always invited to Sandringham for actual holidays, but people like the Gloucesters and various royal cousins and nephews aren’t invited to Sandringham, so QEII invited the whole fam around for a pre-holiday lunch before traveling to Norfolk. I was curious to see if King Charles would change up any of his mother’s holiday traditions now that he’s in charge. Reportedly, he will spend Christmas at Sandringham and the whole drab lot of senior royals will join him. But what of the big family gathering before Christmas? Well, Charles did change it up – this year’s lunch is being held at Windsor Castle, not BP.
King Charles is hosting his first annual Christmas lunch for the wider royal family as monarch at Windsor Castle. This year’s event sees the family brought together in the largest reunion since the Queen’s funeral in September – and the first time the traditional gathering has taken place since 2019, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dozens of royals are expected to attend, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, but notable absentees include Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and their son Archie and daughter Lilibet, who remain in the US.
The turkey and trimmings lunch has typically taken place annually at Buckingham Palace on the Wednesday before Christmas, shortly before the monarch leaves for Sandringham for the festive season. However this year, in a break from tradition, the event is taking place at Windsor Castle.
The first to arrive was King Charles himself, who travelled to Windsor in a car. He opted for a smart baby blue tie for the occasion, which he paired with a navy blue suit. Meanwhile the Queen Consort followed shortly afterward, and looked serene as she was driven into the castle grounds.
Separate arrivals for the king and queen? Royal separations are in the air – William and Kate travel everywhere separately these days too. Anyway, I’m curious about why Charles decided to make everyone schlep to Windsor this year, but maybe there’s more space there for the extended family. Plus, William and Kate are based out of Windsor now (lol) and Prince Andrew is still living in Royal Lodge on the Windsor estate, and he was apparently invited to the lunch too. But not the Sussexes! But of course they get a namecheck. It speaks volumes about Charles that this is the fourth Christmas in a row that he hasn’t seen his younger son or his youngest grandchildren. Diana would have such contempt for how sh-tty Charles has been not just to Harry, but to their grandchildren. At least Charles gets to sing “I’m Dreaming of an All-White Christmas” though.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- (Front row left to right) King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Prince of Wales, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, the Princess of Wales and the Countess of Wessex during the ‘Together at Christmas’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey in London. The service will be broadcast on ITV1 on Christmas Eve as part of a Royal Carols: Together At Christmas programme, narrated by Catherine Zeta Jones and featuring an introduction by Kate and tributes to Queen Elizabeth II.,Image: 744946582, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Yui Mok / Avalon
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- NMA SOLO As the Jewish community prepares to celebrate Chanukah, His Majesty The King visited JW3, a Jewish community centre that is open to all faiths and acts as a hub for the arts, culture, social action and learning in North London. Founded by Dame Vivien Duffield DBE, JW3 opened in October 2013 with a vision of a vibrant, diverse, unified British-Jewish community, inspired by and engaged with Jewish arts, culture, learning and life. the king was presented with a menorah,Image: 745049656, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Ian Vogler / Avalon
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM – Members of the Royal Family pictured attending the Together At Christmas Carol Service at Westminster Abbey in London. Pictured: Camilla, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom – camilla parker bowles BACKGRID USA 15 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Royals Attend ‘Together at Christmas’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: King Charles III, Camilla Queen Consort, Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Catherine Princess of Wales and Sophie Countess of Wessex Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 15 Dec 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Royals Attend ‘Together at Christmas’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: King Charles III, Camilla Queen Consort, Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Catherine Princess of Wales and Sophie Countess of Wessex Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 15 Dec 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Royals Attend ‘Together at Christmas’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: King Charles III and Dean of Westminster David Hoyle Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 15 Dec 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- Royals Attend ‘Together at Christmas’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: King Charles III and Dean of Westminster David Hoyle Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 15 Dec 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
So there won’t be pix of PA arriving? Wonder if Fergie got an invite.
I wondered about that too. How obliging of the BM not to speculate on that even though they included the absence of a family far, far away.
Spot on.
I assumed Charles moved the event to Windsor so Andrew and Fergie could sneak in through the back door.
I fell asleep just reading about Charles hosting a Chri….zzzzzzzzzzz.
Zzzzz just looking at the congregation
Maybe Windsor is just an attempt to change things up without changing them too much? But it reads as a little tone deaf – “ho hum, which palace shall we use for the large christmas lunch this year.” IDK.
And it is easier for W&K and Andrew (especially if William is actually at Windsor castle and not AC lol), but it seems sort of mean to make all the other London-based royals schlep out to Windsor, like the Gloucesters and Kents.
Agree that it’s tone deaf but I am loling at the idea of this group at a Chili’s for their luncheon.
I see these big castles and palaces and all I can think of is how literally freezing they must be at this time of the year. When this group walks through the door the temperature probably plummets even more.
So the Kents et al are “inconvenienced” by a chauffered ride to Windsor? like they were going to walk to Buck?
LOL Buckingham Palace is a lot closer to KP than Windsor Castle is.
“Charles is hosting an all-white Christmas luncheon at Windsor Castle.” It’s probably safer that way. It saves follow-up apologies for why they had certain guests in a headlock for daring to cross the threshold.
Or a 32 point questionnaire on how one came to be located in Britain.
I think it’s so we don’t realize Kate isn’t there. No pictures of arrivals will take any speculation out of the air.
Camilla’s coat is so white, it glows. She really stands out. Sophie’s white coat almost looks beige, ecru at the very least.
Well if, as in the past, the Gloucester’s grandchildren attend, it won’t be all white because two of them are half Māori.
@ohso True about the Gloucester grandkids.
It kills me that they had Harry esconsed in Nottingham Cottage, that you need a shoehorn to enter, and yet the damned pedophile gets a much larger residence.
I think the reason why the Christmas lunch is not at Buckingham Palace this year is because so much construction going on. It’s one of the reasons why Charles and Camilla are still living at Clarence House.
Camilla actually lives at Ray Mill in Wiltshire, so she comes up to London when she has Queening to do.
Windsor was probably chosen so Andrew can go in without being seen and so that William and Kate can arrive separately in private.
May I say I saw this headline and decided NOT to read the story?
Charles is every day”doing it wrong”
Am I the only one on here who doesn’t believe William & Kate live separately??!!!!!! Surely, it’d get out somehow, from someone.
It might not get out if he was staying at Windsor while she was at Adelaide. And even as it is now with the fact that they still have KP and Anmer – its very easy to hide it in my opinion. the only people I think who would figure it would be people at school and its very easy to hide in a “oh william needs to be here for work” kind of way.
I think they’ve always lived separately more or less but it worked for them. I think during the pandemic when they had to live together things got rough and thats when William moved to Sandringham.
Hi Becks1. I haven’t posted with you for a while! I can see what you say. It’s just the separate cars thing looking so clunky and obvious. Surely, if they were living separately, they’d have worked out how to do the entrances and exits better, without encouraging gossip. God, even Charles and Di managed to meet in laybys and get in the same car. (That’s me believing everything I watched on The Crown.)
@Sparrow I think the time differences are messing us up, lol! I also tend not to comment that much on weekends.
And you’re right that the separate arrivals look SO clunky and obvious. And they’re kind of setting themselves up for in a weird way – like why did we need video of George arriving at Wimbledon with Kate while William was already there? (or was it vice versa?) just get inside together and then get the cameras rolling. The WA service had an excuse for it (“excuse” being that Kate was there “getting ready”) but it wasn’t much of an excuse.
I actually wonder how long the separate arrivals have been going on, and if the press was just covering it for a while. Or if they were meeting up at KP and then arriving together at the event. Remember the cost of the trip to see the Bond premiere last year? Transportation was some exorbitant sum which did not make sense considering the locations of all involved. But it made sense if someone had to helicopter in from Norfolk or something.
I misread one line here as “a drab of senior royals”– as if that’s the official term for a group of royals (like a flock of seagulls, or a pack of wolves)– and now I can’t unsee that, lol! From now on, I’ll think of any BRF gathering as “a drab of royals”…
Or like a murder of crows, lol.
I found this line in the Daily Fail story galling: “Meanwhile the Queen Consort followed shortly afterward, and looked serene as she was driven into the castle grounds.”
After what transpired with the lunch and Clarkson, Camilla shouldn’t be allowed serenity ever.
So….I guess she has the ultimate privilege of having the title and all the perks that come with it and she doesn’t have to live with or travel with the King. Damn.
I’m sure she looked more smug than serene.
That, and Camilla’s smugness on display.
She looks like the ‘cat that got the cream’, and Charles posits that the Sussexes are the problem.
Usually, maybe culturally, there is a need to be with family for holidays, after losing loved ones during the year.
With the little available knowledge, I can see that being a part of this luncheon would provide any solace to any truly grieving relative.
This would be a hard pass, even if it fulfils the beige test.
Wonder why Sophie is so prominent here, right next to Kate, while Edward is somewhere else and the York princesses are in back. And Sophie didn’t get the burgundy memo. Only Charlotte, Kate and Zara. Funny.
Sophie got the burgundy memo but only had the white coat so Kate said ok then white to match Camilla. Anne got the burgundy memo also but said FU no one tells me what to wear so stayed home. The York girls were left out of this little clique it seems.
On the plus side, not going to that thing is pretty great. Looking at those pictures…..wow that looks boring and cold (inside & out).
Wonder why Sophie is so prominent here, right next to Kate, while the York princesses are way back. And Sophie didn’t get the burgundy memo. Funny.
I think Charles is sending a message to the Cambridge’s that Windsor castle isn’t going to be theirs anytime soon. That engagement Kate did in the green drawing room so soon after the Queen’s death was so inappropriate, tone deaf and tacky. And all those stories about how they would be moving into the castle were also. I think the Cambridge’s wanted to move to Windsor as some sort of power play against the Sussexes because they moved there. I don’t think Charles was in favor of it. But the Queen approved it. Now that she is dead Charles is asserting his power just as he did with the Duke of Edinburgh title. He has made a point of having a number of meetings etc at Windsor and appointed himself to that ranger post which was supposed to be Edward’s. Windsor has always been the home of the monarch. IMO. Charles is letting everyone know that even if it isn’t his primary residence it will remain identified with the monarch. He is not going to let it become Cambridge Castle. The Sussexes were always referred to primarily as being at frog more or on the frog more estate. Andrew is referred to as being at royal lodge. Sophie and Edward as being at bagshot. Everyone knows that those residences are on the Windsor estate and sometime that is mentioned but always with the name of their specific home and being at/in Windsor was generally used specifically for the Queen. Charles is making sure that at Windsor is identified with him now that he is monarch. As for the Andrew angle. He is going to be included in Sandringham so they likely weren’t afraid of him being pictured at the lunch.
@Catherine this is a great comment and a really good theory. If Charles was opposed to the Windsor move (he lived at KP as prince of wales, why can’t William), and they somehow got the queen to agree but Adelaide was the compromise (As in, they wanted windsor, royal lodge, maybe even a completely new house, and AC was what they were given), then it puts those Windsor Castle stories after she died into perspective. W&K may have been trying to force Charles’ hand.
Or maybe the Queen was opposed to the windsor move, Charles was okay with it but AC was still the compromise – this makes more sense with the WC stories, because maybe W&K thought they could get Windsor now that the queen wasn’t living there.
But Charles is making it very clear that Windsor still belongs to the monarch and not the heir.
Hmmmmm.