{"id":614547,"date":"2025-12-05T20:52:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/614547\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:52:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T20:52:37","slug":"princess-of-wales-hosts-carol-service-at-westminster-abbey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/614547\/","title":{"rendered":"Princess of Wales hosts carol service at Westminster Abbey"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Princess of Wales was joined by her husband and their three children at her carol service at Westminster Abbey as she told performers that it had become a family \u201ctradition\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kate, 43, hosted the fifth Together at Christmas service, which featured readings from Hollywood celebrities Kate Winslet, the Titanic actress, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, star of Love Actually.<\/p>\n

Wearing a dark green coat with a faux fur collar and drop \u201ctsar star\u201d earrings by Robinson Pelham, the same jeweller who designed the diamond earrings she wore on her wedding day in the abbey in 2011, the princess arrived on her own to greet guests and performers before being joined by Prince William, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, ten, and Prince Louis, seven, who were all dressed in matching navy blue.<\/p>\n

It is the first time the Wales family have been seen together in public since their appearance at Trooping the Colour, the King\u2019s birthday parade, in June.<\/p>\n

Kate\u2019s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton and her brother James and his wife Alizee joined them.<\/p>\n

Other members of the royal family included Zara and Mike Tindall.<\/p>\n

It is understood that Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, were invited to the service but were unable to attend.<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Zara and Mike Tindall with Hannah Waddingham (centre)<\/p>\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The 1,600 guests were greeted by the sound of Christmas carols being played by young musicians from Future Talent, the charity established by the late Duchess of Kent, who died earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Before the service, Kate thanked singers Katie Melua, Dan Smith, Griff and Fisherman\u2019s Friends for taking time out of their schedules to perform.<\/p>\n

When speaking to Smith, the Bastille singer, the princess told him that her children are \u201creally excited, it [the service] has become such a tradition\u201d.<\/p>\n

Moving into the abbey she greeted some of the congregation, including Holocaust survivor Steven Frank<\/a>, who was photographed by the princess<\/a> in 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the genocide.<\/p>\n

She also went up to guest Eugene Levy, the Schitt\u2019s Creek actor who interviewed Prince William<\/a> in his Apple+ travel programme The Reluctant Traveler. The programme saw Levy visit Windsor Castle and a dog walk to the local pub, where the prince opened up about his family life and plans to \u201cchange\u201d the monarchy when he becomes King.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\u201cLovely to meet you. You know my husband very well now,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope he looked after you. And you got to meet our dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a bit of a dog whisperer myself, and the cookies helped,\u201d the actor said, before telling the princess that it was \u201ca memorable day that\u2019s for sure\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dame Mary Berry, who helped create a wreath that formed part of the abbey\u2019s floral display, told the princess: \u201cI haven\u2019t been before and I\u2019m so excited to come. A real treat.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the service, guests were invited to light candles and were given an order of service inscribed with the message: \u201cThis service is dedicated to you and the love you have shown\u201d. The back of the booklet featured a quote from William Morris: \u201cLove is enough\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

Joe Locke, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kate Winslet<\/p>\n

In a personal letter to guests at the Westminster Abbey service and 15 other similar services across the UK, the princess wrote: \u201cAt its heart, Christmas speaks of love taking form in the simplest, most human ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The princess also praised community stalwarts invited to the service, telling them they are making an \u201cextraordinary difference to the lives of others\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said the Christmas period reminded us \u201chow deeply our lives are woven together\u201d, adding that despite life feeling \u201cfragmented or uncertain\u201d at times, the festive season \u201cinvites us to remember the power of reaching out to one another\u201d.<\/p>\n

Prince William<\/a> gave a reading from Luke\u2019s Gospel and Kate Winslet read a passage from something she had written herself.<\/p>\n

\"Katie<\/p>\n

Katie Melua<\/p>\n

CHRIS JACKSON\/PA<\/p>\n

Winslet said: \u201cWe all deserve to belong. Especially now, when so many are in need of kindness and understanding, a kind word of a shared meal \u2014 can mean more than we\u2019ll ever know.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cChristmas is about giving. But maybe we can think about being \u201cpresent\u201d as our Christmas present to those we love and to those who need to feel comforted and heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as songs from the choir, Katie Melua, the singer who was away from public life for several years due to mental health challenges, performed the song White Christmas in a line up that included Fisherman\u2019s Friends.<\/p>\n

Hannah Waddingham, the Ted Lasso actress, who had been due to sing, was forced to sit in the audience after her singing voice had been affected by an exhausting filming schedule.<\/p>\n

\"Interior<\/p>\n

Westminster Abbey was decorated for the service<\/p>\n

AARON CHOWN\/PA<\/p>\n

One schoolgirl who received an invitation was Madison Reed, who last year raised more than \u00a31,360 for the Archie Foundation, which supports sick children, by highland dancing in 26 locations across Scotland, each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet.<\/p>\n

The service was designed to recognise individuals from across the UK who have dedicated their time to helping others, led groups that bring their communities together or offered a helping hand.<\/p>\n

In the abbey, sports stars joined the pews, including players from England\u2019s Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup winning squad \u2014 Rosie Galligan, Helena Rowland, Jess Breach and Marlie Packer, and some members from the Welsh women\u2019s rugby team, including captain Alex Callender, and Lioness Michelle Agyemang, a member of England\u2019s Women\u2019s Euro 2025 winners.<\/p>\n

Former England rugby captain Lewis Moody<\/a>, who recently announced he has motor neurone disease, was also invited.<\/p>\n

Second World War veterans were represented by Jack Mortimer, a corporal with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps who landed on Sword Beach on D-Day, and John Eskdale, who saw combat with the Malta Convoys in 1942 and was involved in the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943.<\/p>\n

Ambassadors and Friends of the Royal Horticultural Society, gardener Arit Anderson, florist Simon Lycett and TV presenters Angellica Bell and Tom Allen, who all helped make wreaths on display in the abbey with school children, were also among the guests.<\/p>\n

The one-hour service, which featured two pre-recorded videos made by BBC Studios, will be shown on ITV on Christmas Eve and repeated on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Princess of Wales was joined by her husband and their three children at her carol service at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[5105,7710,519,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-614547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-royal","9":"tag-royal-families","10":"tag-royal-family","11":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115668946607286694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}