The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Sunday 5 December 2004

Christmas with the Royal Family

Like so much in royal life, Christmas is governed by tradition.  The holiday season is spent at Sandringham, as the Queen has done for most of her reign, and her father and grandfather did before her.   As for most of us, Christmas is all about family, food, presents, and church.  But the details of a royal Christmas are very different. 

In her memoirs, Sarah, Duchess of York leaves no doubt that she is relieved to be left out of the royal Christmas celebrations.  Her account focuses on the changes of clothes required on Christmas Day:  tweed skirt and cardigan for breakfast; stylish dress (and coat, hat, and gloves) for church; silk dress for lunch; casual skirt and blouse for the afternoon; silk skirt and blouse for tea; and finally a formal gown for dinner.  One is left with the impression that all the royals ever do is change clothes and eat.  The Duchess now spends Christmas at Wood Park on the Sandringham estate, where she can see plenty of her ex-husband and daughters and also visit with some members of the family on her own terms. 

You may have noticed that opening presents was not on the Duchess’ Christmas Day activity list.  The Royal Family follows the Danish custom of opening gifts on Christmas Eve that was introduced by Queen Alexandra a century ago.  This is a rare time when the entire family goes into a room and shuts the door on all of their staff.  The presents are placed (in advance, by staff) on a long table divided into places for each person’s presents with ribbon - in order of precedence, of course.  Most of these presents are surprisingly modest, which the Duchess of York says reflects their “horror of material display.” 

The Queen shops for Christmas presents at home in Buckingham Palace, choosing from items provided on approval by favored merchants (no longer Harrods, of course).  According to author Ingrid Seward, the Prince of Wales and other members of the family often do their Christmas shopping at country fairs, where exclusive shops catering to rich landowners have booths.  Staff are likely to be allowed to select their own presents, and the Queen also gives her staff Christmas puddings.  

Shopping is not the only Christmas duty that must be done in advance.  There are staff parties to give in the weeks before Christmas, particularly for the Queen and the overstaffed Prince of Wales.  According to Royal Insight, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh jointly send about 750 Christmas cards each year.  (Compare that to the over two million sent out by President George W. Bush this year!)  The Queen also gives Christmas trees from the Sandringham estate to several churches.  Naturally, staff handle most of these responsibilities. 

Like her father and grandfather before her, the Queen broadcasts a message at 3:00 pm GMT on Christmas Day, now on the internet as well as radio and television.  It has been prerecorded rather than live since 1960.  The Christmas broadcast is the subject of the “Focus” article in this month’s Royal Insight online magazine, available at www.royal.gov.uk.  One detail it omits to mention is that the reason why the broadcast is now alternated between the BBC and ITV is that the Queen was angry that the BBC aired the Princess of Wales’ interview on Panorama without consulting her, and retaliated by ending the BBC’s monopoly on the broadcast.  This year’s broadcast will be the Queen’s 52^nd Christmas message. 

The royal Christmas celebration moved to Windsor Castle for several years during the 1970s and 1980s.   Windsor can accommodate far more people than Sandringham, and as the extended Royal Family grew, the Queen chose to move the festivities rather than cut the guest list.  Apparently Princess Michael of Kent annoyed the Queen during a holiday visit in the late 1980s by complaining about her accommodations, and as Windsor was about to be renovated anyway, the Queen opted to spend the next few Christmases at Sandringham with only her immediate family.  The Windsor renovation (and the later post-fire renovation) are long since over, and the Queen continues to spend Christmas at Sandringham.  According to Ingrid Seward, during the period that Christmas was spent at Windsor, the Sandringham staff were so disappointed that the Queen essentially celebrated New Year’s as a second Christmas to please them.  Also, the staff had to transport all of the Royal Family’s Christmas gifts, Christmas foods, and decorations between the two residences.  Things are much simpler now - relatively speaking. 

Sources: Sarah, Duchess of York, My Story; Ingrid Seward, Royal Style; www.royal.gov.uk.  

- Margaret Weatherford