Princess Kate’s Christmas carol service will kick of the festive season in style (Image: GETTY)
As part of the official Royal Rota of journalists, will be attending many of the special royal events planned across this festive season.
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What can you expect? A right royal Christmas schedule:
Friday December 6 – Princess Kate’s Christmas carol service
The first festive event in the royal calendar is just a few days away, as members of the Royal Family will show up en masse to support the Princess of Wales’s annual Christmas Carol Service.
It will be an extra special event this year, following Kate’s cancer battle, and forms part of her gradual return to public duties. But she was determined to make sure her beloved carol concert went ahead for the fourth year in a row and has spent many months working on the plans.
The theme of this year’s carol service celebrates those supporting others in need. Around 1,600 people will fill Westminster Abbey for musical performances by stars including Paloma Faith, Olivia Dean and Gregory Porter.
Kate and William are expected to bring their three children Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six, to the festive event.
Other royals, including the King and Queen, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Anne and Sir Tim Laurence and the York sisters are expected to attend.
The King and Queen at the ‘Together at Christmas’ Carol Service at Westminster Abbey last year (Image: Getty)
Wednesday December 18 – Royals attend a private pre-Christmas lunch at Windsor Castle
King Charles will welcome extended family members at Windsor Castle for a festive lunch. This is a private royal event and is typically held on the Wednesday before Christmas.
It’s a tradition Queen Elizabeth started, which enables the monarch to celebrate the festivities with his wider family before leaving to travel to Norfolk later this week. The late Queen used to host the gathering at Buckingham Palace but the King hosted it at Windsor Castle for the first time last year.
Senior royals are expected to be in attendance, including the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and their children Lady Louise and James, Earl of Wessex, and Princess Anne and Sir Tim Laurence.
It is not yet known whether the Princess of Wales will join her husband at the event.
Other royals on the guest list include Mike and Zara Tindall, Peter Phillips, Lady Sarah Chatto and .
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at Christmas time, 1969 (Image: Getty)
Date unknown – The Queen invites seriously ill children to help decorate the Christmas Treet at Clarence House
Each year the Queen invites seriously ill children to decorate the Christmas tree at Clarence House. The children and their families are usually treated to appearances from Father Christmas and other festive treats.
The event, supported by Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, has not yet been announced so we don’t know the date yet – but we can expect it to happen at the start of December.
Date unknown – Royal Christmas Cards
Typically, the King and Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales unveil their annual Christmas Cards. These usually feature a new photo of each of the families.
Tuesday December 24 – Christmas Eve at Sandringham
As for most families, Christmas Eve is a private affair with the King’s nearest and dearest travelling to Sandringham to join him for the festivities.
But in a nod to their German ancestry, the Firm exchanges gifts on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day.
In the evening the adults attend a black-tie dinner.
Wednesday December 25 – Christmas Day
Senior members of the Royal Family will make the short walk from Sandringham to St Mary Magdalene for a Christmas church service. They usually stop to chat to the hundreds of well-wishers who have waited out in the cold to wish the royals a very Merry Christmas.
They then head back to the Sandringham Estate for a festive feast before gathering around the TV to watch the King’s prerecorded Christmas Speech.
Tuesday December 31 – New Year’s Eve church
We can expect to see the King and Queen one last time in 2024, on a stroll to attend a New Year’s Eve church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham.
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