Queen restricts Christmas celebrations for the inner ‘core’ of royal family

After much deliberation, the Queen has decided not to go to Sandringham to host the annual Christmas festivities for the royal family. She will now be spending the holidays in Windsor castle, much like she did last year during the height of the pandemic.

Inner circle

Royal Commentator Phil Dampier told The Sun that the Queen will also be keeping it rather intimate this year and will most likely be visited the ‘inner circle’ of the royal family. He said:

Obviously it's going to be much smaller and it's going to be similar to last year.

Except obviously, the one big difference is that Prince Philip is not going to be there.

It wouldn't surprise me if Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince Andrew and possible Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex and maybe some others - a small hard core of people - join her for lunch.

Celebrations in Windsor

According to Mail Online, the members of the royal family who will be keeping the Queen company on the joyous day will also be keeping their own social activities to a minimum to reduce the risks. The Queen will also be most likely attending service in her own private chapel, within the castle.

Although she has taken lots of precautions to ensure her safety, and that of her family, there are certain traditions that she will still be carrying out on Christmas day. Dampier predicts that she will probably host drinks and Christmas lunch for her intimate party, and that everyone will be opening gifts together as per usual. He added:

I suspect they will have drinks as normal before lunch.

Of course they open their presents in the German tradition on Christmas Eve. So I suspect there will be a certain amount of that.

We still have no idea about who exactly is invited to her exclusive Christmas celebrations, but one thing’s for sure—Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will not be making an appearance. However, Stewart Pearce, a former vocal coach of Princess Diana, recently told Express.co.uk, that Prince Harry and his family may drop in via videoconference on Christmas day.