British Royal Christmas 1: 2008-2021


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Marty91charmed said:
I don't know what the fact of being closed to your family has to do with your parents being everywhere to be honest...
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I don't know why her parents and siblings attending family events are seeing as them being "everywhere".
 
How are they everywhere? They aren't attending state events they are just attending family events! In fact they weren't even at Sandringham House, they stayed at Anmer even when William and Kate went over to the big house. They attended a church service at the invitation (we can assume) of the Queen, one invitation over the Christmas period.
I don't see the problem and I think its a nice change for inlaws to be attending rather than being left out. Some people just need to get over animosity towards the Middletons (i'm not a massive fan myself but can't see the problem).
 
I'm not a Middleton's critic... I'm indifferent towards them actually..That's just seem odd to me that they mingle with the royal family in such a easy way... That's all
 
And in the past the Royals have been criticized for not 'lowering themselves' to include in-laws. Now that they are doing just that some people want to criticize them or the in-laws for it. They can't win! I don't see the problem with them attending church with the Royals, I doubt they were sitting next to the Queen!
 
I remember seeing photos of Carole sitting with the Duke of Edinburgh and the two were laughing and talking in every picture. I don't understand why its such a crazy idea that the Middletons and the royals genuinely get along and get invited to family events.
 
I actually like the fact that the Middleton's are not shut out by the royal family. I've always thought it was odd that those marrying in had to basically abandon their families during the holidays. It's good to see that times are changing.
 
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George spent Christmas with the Middletons on December 21st when he attended a candlelight service at Anmer church.

He did not attend Christmas service with Queen and the Royal Family at Sandringham.

According to his parents he is disruptive and cannot attend church yet he went with his mother's family but not his father's family.
 
It is not really the same situation. The church at Anmer is right outside their house. If he was acting up, they could just take him out. Compared to the walk on Christmas with several hundred people watching. No royals have attended at George's age. James and the Philips girls don't attend.


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Another way to look at this is that it fairly well-confirmed that the Middletons are there for the holiday.

There would be comment, no matter where they went to Church on Christmas (a la "Queen bans Carole from St. Mary Magdalene's").

Anmer's Church shares a Vicar (it seems) with Dersingham and Shernbourne: Anmer: St Mary, Anmer - Norfolk | Diocese of Norwich and has service only two days a month. Dersingham appears to take the bulk of the services.

Having known a number of rectors that work at multiple parishes, I know that Christmas is a very busy time with little slack to work in an additional service at Anmer just so that the Middletons don't have to share the church with the Royal Family. And I have no doubt that had the Middletons attended at Dersingham, there would have been security measures of some kind, doubling that work.

BTW - did anyone notice any record of who attended the early morning service at St. MM in Christmas Day? I saw no Wessexes, no Cambridges and I am not even sure I saw Anne?
 
The Middletons arrived at Anmer Hall on Thursday December 18th.
George has spent more than a week with his Middleton family.

On December 24th, George spent a few hours at Sandringham with his Royal family.
 
Queen Camilla said:
The Middletons arrived at Anmer Hall on Thursday December 18th.
George has spent more than a week with his Middleton family.

On December 24th, George spent a few hours at Sandringham with his Royal family.
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We don't actually know what George did. He could have been brought over to the house several times during the week.Plus the Middletons will go home while the Cambridges stay in Norfolk. The Queen and Philip are there until February so George will get plenty of time with them.


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I always like seeing the RF walk to and from church on Christmas Day. As Daria has said, Louise first started to attend when she was eight, in 2011, and as James will be eight next year I think it's possible that we will see him next Christmas. As others have pointed out, seven year old boys don't usually stay still for long and church services can be pretty boring for children. However at some churches they have an area where children can sit and occupy themselves with things like colouring in sheets, books and toys whilst their parents are at the service (they have this at my church, and I've been to a few other churches that have this facility as well) so I guess James could've gone this year and stayed in the children's area so as not to disturb the rest of the congregation, but I don't know if they have this at St. Mary Magdalene's.

Regarding the Middleton's attendance, I do think it's a bit odd that they attended but another part of me thinks that it's quite a nice gesture from the RF to invite them to Sandringham. I don't think it's right to completely desert your birth family once you marry into the RF, but I think a better approach would be to do what the Linleys and Chattos do and alternate between years, and if the Cambridges did that, they would be spending an equal amount of time with both families (as I understand it, George has spent more time with the Middletons than the Windsors this Christmas) which is perfectly fair IMO.

I enjoyed listening to HM's Christmas speech this year, though what she covered was pretty much what I expected, however I was very surprised that she didn't mention family events such as Mia Tindall's birth and Catherine's second pregnancy.
 
The difference with W&K is they have Anmer Hall. The Linleys and Chattos don't.

Much like Camilla keeping her own home separate from Charles so she can spend time with her family.
 
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The royal family aren't the stiff and cold people like they were back in the day. One must remember, Sophie's father is with the royal family a lot too.

The Queen and the rest of the family try their best to make sure Catherine and Sophie's family isn't shut out of their lives and include them in some of the family activities. Sophie's dad is always with the royal party for Royal Ascot and the Royal Windsor Horse Show. The Middleton's have attended Royal Ascot, the Diamond Jubilee Pageant and the Coronation Concert. They really don't attend many royal events.

The Queen invited the Middleton's to church because they're guest at William & Catherine's home on the Sandringham Estate. It was a very nice gesture and I'm sure everyone was pleased with having them there.
 
Rudolph said:
The difference with W&K is they have Anmer Hall. The Linleys and Chattos don't.

Much like Camilla keeping her own home separate to Charles so she can spend time with her family.
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I was just pointing out the Linleys and Chattos Christmas situation out as another suggestion. The Linleys have a flat in London as well as a residence in the Cotswolds (I think in Daylesford). On top of that they also have a castle in Provence but as it is in France I think it's used as more of a holiday home. I'm not sure how many residences the Chattos have but I wonder if the Chattos spend Christmas with the Linleys or with the rest of the Chatto family.
 
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I was just pointing out that Anmer Hall is on the Sandringham Estate, the Cambridges don't have far to travel to visit the big house and Charles and Harry can pop down anytime to see George.
 
Didn't they try that arrangement when they were first married? They spent Christmas 2012 with the Middletons, and I remember a great outcry that they were insulting the Queen. So alternating years is probably not the best idea, at least for them.
 
They aren't staying at Sandringham with the Queen. They are staying with William and Kate at Amner. They are guests of WK and they were only invited to go to church. They weren't at the Christmas Eve present opening or the formal dinner.

There other people attending the church service. It's just not for the royals. So because their daughter married a prince they aren't supposed to be involved any more ? That's nonsense. The Cambridges spend time with both families. Just like they go to Mustique with the Middletons, they go to Scotland with the royals.


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Queen Camilla said:
George spent Christmas with the Middletons on December 21st when he attended a candlelight service at Anmer church.

He did not attend Christmas service with Queen and the Royal Family at Sandringham.

According to his parents he is disruptive and cannot attend church yet he went with his mother's family but not his father's family.
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It might be that the 21st Dec service was a Christingle service in which case it was almost certainly a service that would be 'child friendly', indeed the whole point is that its for children. Our family always attend a christingle service on Christmas Eve and its a wonderful but noisy service where children can take part , get a christingle and no-one complains about the noise around them.

Its very different from a normal church service where a child making noise would be a disruption. You can not really compare the two services, they are both very different from each other.
 
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Time to stop speculating.

Empty and off topic posts have been edited/deleted.
 
The British Royal Family Christmas traditions are my favourite of all the Europeans Royal Houses,with the Christmas Day church appearances always top of my Christmas morning viewing.
 
An Ard Ri said:
The British Royal Family Christmas traditions are my favourite of all the Europeans Royal Houses,with the Christmas Day church appearances always top of my Christmas morning viewing.
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I think what impresses me the most is the tradition of keeping Christmas day totally in observance of the religious aspect of the holiday and focusing on the reason for the season as some say. Not very many people do that anymore with all the commercialism the holidays have come to represent.
 
Dman said:
The royal family aren't the stiff and cold people like they were back in the day. One must remember, Sophie's father is with the royal family a lot too.
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I don't think the royal family were ever stiff and cold people. From most accounts, including those from Sarah, Duchess of York, Her Majesty and Prince Philip are warm, loving people with a great sense of humor. All of their children seem to have a great sense of humor and are good conversationalists. They all seem to be very close to their children. I think most people would love to spend Christmas with the British Royal Family.
 
US Royal Watcher said:
I don't think the royal family were ever stiff and cold people. From most accounts, including those from Sarah, Duchess of York, Her Majesty and Prince Philip are warm, loving people with a great sense of humor. All of their children seem to have a great sense of humor and are good conversationalists. They all seem to be very close to their children. I think most people would love to spend Christmas with the British Royal Family.
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I'm talking about the royals from back in the day. George V and Queen Mary and the rest. The royals from the old days.
 
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