First of all, let me say a big Merry Christmas to all of you who are celebrating today!
We're back with our traditional Christmas Day post here at Books, Birkins & Beauty (you can read about last year's Christmas here, 2014 here, 2013 here and 2012 here), for a recap of what the Royals wore in years past!
It was a more subdued celebration than usual this year for the Royals, with the Queen missing the traditional church service at Sandringham for the first time in decades, as she continues to recover from a heavy cold. Zara and Mike Tindall were also absent, as a spokeswoman for the couple announced on Christmas Eve they had sadly lost their baby. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, together with Prince George and Princess Charlotte, were in Bucklebury, spending the holidays with the Middletons.
For the first time we saw Peter and Autumn Phillips' girl, Isla and Savannah, attend church with the rest of the Royal Family.
Prince Philip, who himself has been recovering from a bad cold, seemed in splendid form making the short walk to the church:
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie both wore festive hats in shades of red:
As had been announced beforehand, the Cambridges elected to spend Christmas away from Sandringham, at the Middleton family home, to mark Pippa Middleton's last Christmas as a single woman, before her wedding on 20 May 2017.
It was the first time ever Prince George and Princess Charlotte attended church with their parents - and they looked predictably adorable with their candy canes!
You can find the Daily Mail coverage here (Cambridges) and here (rest of the Royal Family).
With the big day just around the corner, I thought I'd take a break from all the prepping and have a look at some Christmas traditions enjoyed by the Royal Family! 🌲
Senior royals usually decamp to Sandringham House in Norfolk, where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh host their immediate family.
While the Duke usually goes by car, and the Queen travels via scheduled train service from King's Cross, this year saw a change of plans: the couple travelled together by helicopter, a more direct and comfortable way to make the journey, given both were reportedly suffering from heavy colds.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Queen starts signing her Christmas cards during her summer holidays. She will write on a stack of around 800 cards during her annual stay at Balmoral, signing off "Elizabeth R." (for "Regina," the Latin word for queen) to politicians and fellow heads of state, "Elizabeth" to friends, and her childhood nickname of "Lilibet" to her cousins.
Her staff usually receive gift vouchers and Christmas puddings, and she has Christmas trees from the Sandringham Estate sent to local schools and churches (these are also available to buy for the general public, should you fancy a tree with royal pedigree!).
A special Golden Jubilee exhibition of the Queen's Christmas cards to her friends and employees over the years since the accession in 1952 took place at Sandringham in 2002. The royal Christmas cards usually feature a photograph of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, sometimes surrounded by their children and grandchildren (below, the cards sent in 1955, 1996 and 1998):
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall's choice of Christmas card is also usually made public (this year it featured a photograph taken in March 2016 during TRH's official visit to the Western Balkans and Croatia, shown below), while it's less likely we'll get a glimpse of the other Royals' cards, including those of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who didn't share the photograph they chose for their card this year.
Another well-loved Sandringham Christmas tradition is the football match that takes place on Christmas Eve between estate workers and members of the Royal Family, including Princes William and Harry, who usually wear the socks of their favorite teams (Aston Villa for William and Arsenal for Harry):
Presents are exchanged on Christmas Eve, not not on Christmas Day, which the Queen regards exclusively as a religious festival. At teatime the family gathers in the White Drawing Room, where the Queen will encourage the younger royals to help put the finishing touches to the Christmas tree - a 20 ft Norfolk spruce from the estate.
Much like in any other family, where treasured baubles are passed down through the generations, glass angels dating back from the time of Queen Victoria are still in use. The Duke of Edinburgh reportedly puts the finishing touch to the tree by placing a gold star at the top, although one does wonder whether he has renounced this particular tradition in recent years, due to his advancing age.
Trestle tables are laid out in the nearby Red Drawing Room, with sections marked off with tape showing where each family member's gifts should be placed.
Princess Diana's first Christmas with the Royals in 1981 proved somewhat a minefield, as she had bought cashmere and other luxury items for her in-laws, unaware that the key to success in royal present-giving is parsimony, with joke gifts particularly appreciated even by senior royals.
Less well-known examples reportedly include the light-up pepper mill that Prince Philip received one year, the leopard-print bath mat that Princess Diana gave Sarah Ferguson, and a shower cap that Harry gave the Queen with "Ain't Life a B*tch!" printed on it.
After early morning Holy Communion, which is taken privately, Christmas morning is dedicated to church (the Queen goes by car, while the rest of the family makes the short walk from the house to the church of St Mary Magdalene, where Princess Charlotte was christened in July 2015):
After the service, the family sits down to a traditional Christmas meal, which has a local free-range turkey with all the trimmings as its centrepiece. Food is served on a blue and white Copeland dinner service and drinks in crystal stemware engraved with the royal monogram, "EIIR".
Later the Queen retires and leaves the family to sit down and watch her televised Christmas message, a tradition begun in 1932 by her grandfather George V, which is nowadays broadcast at 3pm on television and online.
Dinner is a much less formal affair, and consists of a buffet supper.
Most guests leave after the traditional Boxing Day shoot to see other family members. The Duchess of Cornwall, for example, will head off to spend time with her children and grandchildren, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge remain at home in nearby Anmer Hall, but the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh remain until the second week of February or thereabouts, to commemorate the anniversary of her accession on 6 Feburary 1952, and the Christmas decorations stay up until then (so no qualms if you're late taking down your own decorations - I know I usually am! - you can always say you're following the Queen's lead!).
I'll see you on Christmas Day with a look at what the Royals wore for church, meanwhile I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
First of all, let me say a big Merry Christmas to all of you who are celebrating today!
We're back with our traditional Christmas Day post here at Books, Birkins & Beauty (you can read about last year's Christmas here, 2013 here and 2012 here), for a recap of what the Royals wore in years past!
As usual, the Royals are spending the festive period in Norfolk. The Queen is reportedly hosting at least 29 family members at Sandringham this year (although, unfortunately, no chances of a white Christmas, as the weather has been remarkably mild this year!), while the Cambridges are staying nearby at their newly-refurbished residence at Anmer Hall to celebrate their first Christmas as a family of four.
The whole family gathered for the Christmas Day service at the diminutive 16th century church of St Mary Magdalene, within walking distance of the big house and where Princess Charlotte was christened earlier this year.
As was to be expected, there was no sign of either George or Charlotte at church this year, as they're both much too young to sit still through the 45-minute service (Prince William attended for the first time in 1986, when he was 4.5 years old).
Senior members of the Royal family made their way to church early this morning for Holy Communion. The Queen wore a bouclé off-white suit and repeated an old favourite, a sumptous mink coat with shawl collar:
Fur proved to be rather popular this year with the Queen, who appeared later, for the main 11 o'clock service, wrapped up warm in a new festive red coat with fur cuffs and collar, and a matching fur-trimmed hat:
The Duchess of Cambridge was sporting a new outfit, too: she wore a long belted coat by Italian label Sportmax in appropriately Christmassy shades of green, swapping the original belt for a mock-croc one already in her wardrobe and topped off the look with a matching dark green felt hat with flower trim (both pieces I can definitely see recycled to upcoming St Patrick's events). Most exciting of all, though, she wore her acron and oak leaves brooch, thus allowing us a proper look at the piece after its debut in 2012 at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee luncheon:
The Duchess of Cornwall repeated a well-loved grey coat with Greek key trim and accessorized with pearls and her butterfly brooch:
The Countess of Wessex continued the fur theme in a striking pale grey coat with fur collar and geometric hat. I breathed a sigh of relief in seeing her daughter Lady Louise dressed in more age appropriate clothes for once and finally ditching her white thights in favour of less dowdy dark grey ones! You go, Lady Louise! I think there's a real beauty hidden behind those 1930s clothes she usually favours! Also, it was the first time Viscount Severn joined his parents and big sister at church on Christmas Day:
The Princess Royal was in a pistachio tweed coat and dress with a well-loved feather trimmed hat she most recently wore on 16 June this year at the Ascot races:
I think both Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie looked very stylish this year:
At 3 o'clock this afternoon it was time for that veritable British Christmas tradition that is the Queen's Speech (you will find a transcript of the speech here). The Queen selected a white dress she had first worn on a visit to Wales during the 2012 Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK and diamond and aquamarine clips that belonged to the Queen Mother:
So, which Royal look did you like best this Christmas? Be sure to drop me a comment and let me know! Personally, it's a tough choice between the Countess of Wessex and the Duchess of Cambridge!
This afternoon at 4.30pm GMT the christening of Princess Charlotte of Cambridge took place at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen two hymns, one lesson and two anthems for the christening of their daughter, Princess Charlotte.
The hymns are Praise to the Lord, The Almighty and Come Down, O Love Divine.
The lesson is from Matthew 18, verses 1-5, read by Mr. James Meade.
The anthems are I Will Sing With The Spirit and God Be In My Head, both by John Rutter.
Members of The Sandringham Church Choir are singing at the service.
The processional organ music is R. Vaughan Williams' Prelude on "Rhosymedre".
The recessional organ music is G. F. Handel's Overture and Allegro from Concerto VIII in A.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, is baptising Princess Charlotte. He is being supported by The Reverend Canon Jonathan Riviere, the Rector of the Sandringham group of parishes.
Princess Charlotte's was not the first royal christening to take place at St Mary Magdalene. Princess Eugenie was christened there on 23 December 1990 by the Bishop of Norwich, as was Prince John, the last child of King George V and Queen Mary, on 3 August 1905.
Prince William's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, was christened at St Mary Magdalene as well, on 30 August 1961, having been born on 1 July of the same year at Park House on the estate.
During the service the Lily Font, a silver baptismal font commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840 for the christening of their first child Victoria, Princess Royal, was used. Water from the River Jordan was poured from a solid silver ewer made in 1735 for the christening of George III.
The Cambridges walked to the Church from their country home at Amner. Majesty magazine reports that the Millson pram the Duchess of Cambridge pushed is exactly the same as the one that carried Prince Edward in 1965 - you can certainly say these prams are made to a high standard!
Prince George walked alongside his parents and looked utterly adorable in a white smocked shirt with red embroidery and red shorts, very reminiscent of the outfit his daddy wore 30 years ago when he went to meet new baby brother Prince Harry at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington:
Prince George was caught on camera peeking at his little sister in her pram:
And how precious did Princess Charlotte look? She wore the replica of the original Victorian christening gown made by Angela Kelly, also worn by big brother George at his own christening in 2013:
Only a limited number of close family and friends were in attendance at the service: besides the Cambridges, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Middletons and the five godparents, all of them chosen among personal friends and close relatives of the couple. The godparents were friends Sophie Carter, James Meade and Thomas van Straubenzee, and The Hon. Laura Fellowes and Adam Middleton, first cousins of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge respectively. Prince Harry was absent as he's currently in Namibia for one of his charitable projects.
The Queen was in a repeat rose-print silk dress and powder pink coat and Angela Kelly hat, first seen at Royal Ascot last year:
Nanny Maria was on hand in her Norland uniform:
Both the Duchess of Cornwall and Mrs. Middleton looked lovely in summery pastels:
Pippa Middleton wore a high-necked cream coat-dress, a bespoke piece by Emilia Wickstead, topped off with a cream straw cocktail pill-box hat with feather detail by Jane Taylor:
So, what did you think of today's events? Whose look did you like best? Share your views in a comment below!
Daily Mail articles here (main article), here (Prince George's look), here (the Duchess of Cambridge's look), here (the Duchess of Cornwall's look), here (royal chrisening robe) and here (font and ewer).
