British Royal Christmas 1: 2008-2021


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I was trying to figure out who left with the queen in the car,but I guess it was Princess Beatrice.

Hope the Duchess of Cornwall gets better soon missed her there today.
 
I think its because Sandringham at Christmastime is something that the Queen holds dear to her heart. She spent Christmas there with her parents and family and to her, it seems like "home for the holidays".

One tidbit that reinforces this opinion for me is that the Queen stays at Sandringham until February 6th, the anniversary of her father's death.

I wonder if it is also in part because they use Windsor most weekends so it would just feel like every other weekend. Or maybe the Queen would feel obliged to invite the wider family for Christmas as she use to.
 
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I think the difference may be that the Queen may feel that when she's at Windsor (which she loves), she's living in the residence of the monarch. When she's in residence at either Sandringham or Balmoral, she is truly in her own home bought and paid for by her father from the abdicating Edward VIII.

Philip has also been said to really love Sandringham and has spent many, many happy hours on projects and managing the estate.

The privacy at Sandringham is also a big draw, I believe. Especially at Christmastime. Its a place where the family can just be a family without any outside interference from the public. This is why the traditional walk to church on Christmas morning has so much appeal. Other than that, we have absolutely no clue what is going on. :D
 
I still don't see why the RF wants to crowd everyone in at Sandringham, when there's lots more room at Windsor.

Apparently not. Most of Windsor is made up of housing for officials and their families and the Royal Collection (ie the whole of the Round Tower plus elsewhere). They moved from Windsor to Sandringham because Windsor wasn't big enough ( source various biographies and media reports)

I don't make the connection with Accession day because she did used to stay at Windsor.
 
I was trying to figure out who left with the queen in the car,but I guess it was Princess Beatrice.

Hope the Duchess of Cornwall gets better soon missed her there today.

In the video upthread you can see the Queen leaving church followed by Charles and the rest of the family. Her car glides up and Andrew makes his way through the family and then Beatrice gets in the back seat next to her grandmother and Andrew gets in the front next to the driver.
I haven’t seen a video or photo of the Queen’s arrival, but it’s reported that Andrew rode to church with the Queen. We saw both York princesses walking to the church but did not see their father.
Cute that we saw Peter’s daughters collecting flowers this year. And Lady Louise has grown quite a bit in the last year!
 
Tim Laurence bows his head (I think Jack does was well), so I’m not sure the bowing/curtseying tells us anything at all about where Meghan and Harry are staying.

It doesn’t. The curtsies and bows are just common courtesy to the Monarch upon arrival and departure.
 
Apparently not. Most of Windsor is made up of housing for officials and their families and the Royal Collection (ie the whole of the Round Tower plus elsewhere). They moved from Windsor to Sandringham because Windsor wasn't big enough ( source various biographies and media reports)

I don't make the connection with Accession day because she did used to stay at Windsor.

I'm going from memory here rather than evidence so I could be wrong but when they had their Christmas at Windsor, I think they used to go to Sandringham for New Year & stay there for a month or so.
 
I'm going from memory here rather than evidence so I could be wrong but when they had their Christmas at Windsor, I think they used to go to Sandringham for New Year & stay there for a month or so.

Winter hunting was quite popular with the British royals. In fact, in order to extend the daylight hours for this past time, King Edward VII declared the estate to be on Sandringham Time which corresponds to UTC+0:30, and was used from 1901 to 1936. Its not the only quirky thing I've read about Sandringham.

To this day, if you're driving on the estate, you'll see the speed limit posted as 38. Why? Philip figures that its a number that's so unexpected that people pay attention to it. :D

Sandringham has been a huge favorite of monarchs for generations so it doesn't surprise me that the Queen made it *the* place for Christmas celebrations. Just as Windsor is for Easter and her summer sojourn is to Balmoral in the highlands of Scotland.
 
My! Autumn Philips looks so very chic!

Everyone seemed in festive spirits for the BRF. Lovely to take a breather from the family to check in here lol.

Merry Christmas!
 
Tim Laurence bows his head (I think Jack does was well), so I’m not sure the bowing/curtseying tells us anything at all about where Meghan and Harry are staying.

I don’t think it’s a bow from Jack. It looked like Eugenie said something after the Queen left and he leaned down. If that was a bow, he was way late.
 
I'm going from memory here rather than evidence so I could be wrong but when they had their Christmas at Windsor, I think they used to go to Sandringham for New Year & stay there for a month or so.

Just did a google search and as a pre 1988 example, in 1985 they had Christmas at Windsor & by 29th Dec they were at Sandringham so I think my memory of the split holiday might be right.
 
Anyone find pictures yet of the early morning Communion service? Last year we had some about 4 hours before this. I've checked Getty just now, again. And nothing added to the DM yet either.
 
Everywhere I have seen says they were staying at Sandringham with the Queen and its been suggested part of the reason they stayed at Anmer last year was because they were unmarried and the Queen doesn't usually have unmarried couples staying for Christmas so it would have created an unfair precedent.

It was nice to see Kate and Anne chatting away as they left church.

I think Anne looked particularly lovely this year. It looked like she had on brown boots with her blue. I love that color combo.
 
Anyone find pictures yet of the early morning Communion service? Last year we had some about 4 hours before this. I've checked Getty just now, again. And nothing added to the DM yet either.

I wondered about that after checking early this morning for the usual pics and bot seeing then anywhere. Maybe the RF and / or police clamped down and wouldn’t let anybody near.
 
I wondered about that after checking early this morning for the usual pics and bot seeing then anywhere. Maybe the RF and / or police clamped down and wouldn’t let anybody near.

I know we got them earlier last year. But I always believed that was because they were outing Bea/Eug (I forget which) in trainers for the early service. They led with a story about "athletic shoes for Christmas." If you look back at this thread - we got a bit confused by that in 2017.

But when I think about other years, there is a big lapse until the early morning snaps come out?

It is actually my more favorite set of photos. Because it is family rather than family on show. JMO, though. It's all nice to see.
 
I don’t think it’s a bow from Jack. It looked like Eugenie said something after the Queen left and he leaned down. If that was a bow, he was way late.


Jack was definitely bowing, but he was late. At his wedding, he bowed early. He is clearly still learning the ropes.
 
All the family looked lovely. Meghan in navy, Catherine in red, and the Queens coat in some light looks like a very pale lilac.
I agree Sndral, Lady Louise has grown quite tall. Her little brother needs a warm coat he looks cold.
Only 29 bedrooms at Sandringham, so depending how many are staying, then I expect Harry and Meghan would stay at Anmer. Especially as I don't believe there is any problem between the couples.
I worry that Camilla is unwell again, hope she recovers soon. Nothing worse than a nasty head cold.
 
We didn’t see Earl Snowdon nor Lady Sarah Chatto and their families so compared to usual there is more room
 
I wondered about that after checking early this morning for the usual pics and bot seeing then anywhere. Maybe the RF and / or police clamped down and wouldn’t let anybody near.

The crowds were starting to assemble around 4.00 am and SkyNews was reporting from there before the first service but they didn't have any coverage - just a reporter who was asking people why they were there and how early they arrived etc. She did mention that they 'were expected for communion' and then an hour or so later 'they had left from the service' but still all they showed was the gathering crowd - and the crowd was right down to the church.

It is strange that no pictures have come out of that first service but there were certainly people there when it was happening, as well as TV crews.
 
We didn’t see Earl Snowdon nor Lady Sarah Chatto and their families so compared to usual there is more room

Yes I was wondering if Lady Sarah Chatto was there ,I forgot about the Earl and Countess of Snowdon.
 
The crowds were starting to assemble around 4.00 am and SkyNews was reporting from there before the first service but they didn't have any coverage - just a reporter who was asking people why they were there and how early they arrived etc. She did mention that they 'were expected for communion' and then an hour or so later 'they had left from the service' but still all they showed was the gathering crowd - and the crowd was right down to the church.

It is strange that no pictures have come out of that first service but there were certainly people there when it was happening, as well as TV crews.

Were those people allowed outside the church then or being kept back behind the gates to the church? If they were being kept back and the photographers didnt get a good shot of HM in her car maybe they didn’t get any decent pics of the royals.
 
They were as close to the church as they are allowed to get - same place they were for the later service.
 
Then I would be very surprised we didn't get photos if the public were allowed to line the route to the church.
 
Yes I was wondering if Lady Sarah Chatto was there ,I forgot about the Earl and Countess of Snowdon.

I think it has been awhile since either the Queen's niece or nephew and their families have actually been at Sandringham for Christmas. I know we've seen them visit the Queen later during her Sandringham residency.
 
Then I would be very surprised we didn't get photos if the public were allowed to line the route to the church.

It’s very strange indeed. I remember the pics from first service came out before the official walk to the second service last year. Was following it live since it was Meghan’s first Christmas at Sandringham.
 
It looks as if there wasn't much interaction between Harry and William….
 
It's a lovely picture with the family walking down to the church on Christmas Day, but I always got the notion that those that went to early service virtually sneaked down for the Communion Service because to them it was private.
 
Lady Sarah's son posted about going for a Christmas run in a national park in the south of the country this morning. I suppose they are with the other side of the family.
 
It looks as if there wasn't much interaction between Harry and William….

Was unlikely to be, as they walked with the ladies in the middle, with a view to showing some interaction between the ladies. If the men had spoken to each other, it would have been over the ladies, which would have been rather rude.
 
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