Christmas for the Royal Family is a major event, often involving months of preparation and meticulous detail.
Since assuming the throne in 2022, King Charles has continued many long-standing traditions which were favoured by the late Queen Elizabeth – including Christmas Eve gift-giving, the monarch’s Christmas Day speech, and a family church visit.
However, the King, 77, has made a few major changes in line with his own yuletide preferences, such as banning one controversial dish.
Here are some of King Charles’s festive traditions, including some that William is said to be keen to scrap when he becomes King.
Preparation begins in August
King Charles is said to start writing his Christmas cards in August and works his way through them “at every given opportunity”.
The King and Queen Camilla are thought to send around 750 Christmas cards each year, including to members of the Royal Family, close friends, world leaders, and organisations they’ve worked with over the years.
Charles’s former butler, Grant Harrold, said that as the “seasons change, everything for the royals changes too”.
“The King would be in full swing of doing Christmas cards – doing them at every given opportunity – this would have started in August time,” he added.
Gift tradition William wants to scrap
The Royal Family arrive at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk on Christmas Eve, where they have spent most Christmases since the 1870s, and exchange gifts from a specially assembled trestle table.
The presents are strictly “joke” gifts which cost around $10 and are handed out in order of the hierarchy of the family.
Famous past gifts have included a white, leather toilet seat gifted to the then-Prince Charles by Princess Anne, “so he had his own personal throne to sit on while waiting to become King,” Harrold wrote in his book, The Royal Butler.
Princess Diana is also said to have gifted Sarah Ferguson a leopard-print bath mat, and Meghan Markle bought Queen Elizabeth a singing hamster.
Despite the lighthearted gift exchange being a royal ritual for many years, Prince William reportedly dislikes it and wants to get rid once he becomes King.
According to a source, William takes issue with the hierarchical order of gift-giving, particularly because this means his cousin, Zara Tindall, gets her gift last.
“While William’s mind is on much bigger changes than just the trestle table, it’s well known to be one of those antiquated traditions that he’s never really taken to.
“You can expect that to be one of the first things to go when he eventually hosts his first Sandringham Christmas,” the insider told the Daily Mail.
‘Lower’ royals confined to servants’ quarters
Another Christmas tradition that William is said to dislike is that “lower” royals are housed in the servants’ quarters when they visit Sandringham for the festive season.
“In the past, the bedroom policy, and to a lesser extent the gift-giving game, has raised eyebrows among newer or more distant relatives who don’t exactly relish the thought that their sleeping arrangements depend not on comfort but on their position in the family tree.
“William’s reign will be a general vibe shift and little customs like the gift-giving ceremony will be undoubtedly swallowed up by that broader change,” a source claimed.
Christmas lunch
Unsurprisingly, the Royal Family are said to be served a decadent Christmas dinner complete with roast goose, turkey, and “all the trimmings”.
One food that strictly won’t be on the menu is Foie Gras – duck liver made by force-feeding the animals.
The controversial food was previously a favourite for the royals at Christmas. Former royal chef Darren McGrady even said Harrods gave them “an entire Foie Gras en croute” one year.
Charles backs many animal rights causes and believes the dish is cruel, therefore, it is completely banned from all royal residences.
Kids eat elsewhere
According to Mr McGrady, royal children have to eat in a separate room so they don’t interrupt the adults enjoying their luxurious meal.
“The children always ate in the nursery until they were old enough to conduct themselves properly at the dining table.
“The children’s place was in the nursery and Nanny would take care of them. It’s your modern-day Downton Abbey,” the chef said.
However, this won’t be an issue for William, Kate, and their children this year because they are said to be having Christmas lunch on their own at home.
Black-tie dinner on Christmas Eve
Every year, the royals don their finery and attend a black-tie dinner in Sandringham. This includes tiaras, flowing gowns, and tuxedos.
They sit down for a lavish meal of shrimps, lamb and tarte tatin, and complete the evening by pulling Christmas crackers.
Meghan Markle mentioned the royal tradition during the Christmas episode of her Netflix series, With Love, Meghan. The Duchess of Sussex said she has continued the tradition in her Montecito home, saying: “It feels really connected and sweet.”