• King Charles is shaking up the royal family’s annual Christmas celebrations at Sandringham.
  • Specifically regarding the dress code, the King is making some changes to make it less of a “nightmare,” in the words of one source.
  • Instead of up to six outfit changes a day (!), the dress code will now be more “relaxed.”

While the royal family’s annual Christmas celebrations are deeply based around tradition, sometimes those traditions need to be updated—and King Charles is the man for the job.

This year’s annual celebration at Sandringham in Norfolk—where the royal family has long trekked to as they celebrate the December 25 holiday—will notably include a fashion shakeup, a source speaking to Vanity Fair revealed.

Members of the royal family at Christmas at Sandringham in 2024.

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“It used to be a nightmare going to Sandringham because there used to be so many outfit changes, sometimes up to six a day,” the insider shared. “But the King has relaxed that. There won’t be so many changes, but everyone will wear black tie at Christmas dinner.”

While King Charles and Queen Camilla will be there—after all, they are the hosts—as well as Prince William, Kate Middleton, and their three kids, there will be some noticeable absences. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle haven’t spent a Christmas at Sandringham since 2018; though Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson have spent some recent Christmases there, they were not invited this year amid continued scandal surrounding them. It remains to be seen if their daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie will stop by Sandringham with their families or not.

Sandringham House.
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“Invitations went out months ago, and we do know the King loves a big family Christmas,” royal biographer Ingrid Seward said, adding that “Sandringham is smaller than the other palaces and so it’s always a bit of a squash, but it’s always fun and very Christmas-y, and very family focused.”

“The King loves bringing everyone together, and it’s a proper family Christmas,” Seward added, noting that she expected the Wales family of five to attend the annual Christmas walk to St. Mary Magdalene Church alongside the rest of the royal family as “an important show of togetherness” before retreating back to their country home, Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham estate to have lunch with Kate’s birth family, the Middletons. “They get two Christmases,” she said.

The Wales family of five on Christmas Day 2023.

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Other traditions that will remain are the royal family’s Christmas Eve dinner—turkey with all the trimmings—and presents laid out on trestle tables with name badges to identify who they belong to. Gag gifts will also still be exchanged, and, while “Presents are always very practical,” a source said, “It’s probably a bit more lavish these days.”

“Charles is very extravagant, rather like his late grandmother, the Queen Mother,” the insider said. “The Queen [Elizabeth] was pretty frugal.”

Other traditions that will remain is giving staff members a Christmas pudding, watching the King’s Speech around the television at 3 p.m. U.K. time on Christmas Day, and a December 26 Boxing Day shoot in honor of Sandringham, which was originally built as a shooting estate.

King Charles at Sandringham on December 22, 2024.

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After the 26th, the King and Queen are off to Scotland—a new tradition for the royal couple. “They have done this the past couple of years, and it’s become one of their traditions now,” Seward told Vanity Fair. “They love to see the New Year in in Scotland.”