This year’s festivities in the Royal family will be particularly poignant for King Charles lll, with it being his first Christmas since the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth ll.
And royal expert Jennie Bond believes there is a "question mark" over 74 year old King Charles' brother The Duke of York, Prince Andrew, attending the Royal Christmas.
While Andrew, 62, played an active part in his mother’s funeral on 19 September, an invitation to Sandringham is unlikely to be landing on his doormat at the Royal Lodge in Windsor.
“Christmas is always such a difficult time for families, as people are pulled in all directions, so I don’t know if Andrew and Fergie [Sarah, Duchess of York] would suddenly be invited,” the 72 year old journalist says.
Senior royals expected to attend include the King’s sister Anne, Princess Royal, 72, and his youngest brother and his wife, the Duke, 58, and Countess of Wessex, 57.
“Edward and Sophie get on very well with Charles and Camilla, so they’ll probably be there,” says Jennie.
“Quite possibly the Middletons could be included in the Christmas plans.”
Jennie went on to tell OK! that the King's Christmas plans might be "up in the air a bit" this year.
"The younger royals will probably want to spend time with their own families, so I think the two or three day celebrations of the past may, indeed, be a thing of the past," she shared.
"The younger generation might want to do their own thing for at least part of the time. So they may just have Christmas lunch [at Sandringham].”
Charles, who is known to be a "stickler for tradition", is determined that the monarchy conveys a sense of stability and continuity by hosting Christmas at Sandringham.
The royals traditionally spend Christmas and New Year at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, with people seeing them attend church on Christmas Day.
Insiders close to him claimed to the Telegraph: "His philosophy is that the monarchy is the constant state, inhabited by different individuals. The family traditions will continue as much as those of state."
With just a few weeks to go until Christmas 2022, the decks have already been assembled at Windsor Castle with the help of royal staff members.
As the 20-foot Christmas trees were put up in St George's Hall and the Crimson Drawing Room, royal staff were pictured making the finishing touchings.
Jennie added of what this Christmas will be like this year for Charles: "It will be full of nostalgia and some good measure of sadness. There’s going to be that empty place where the Queen sat. I presume Charles will sit there unless they choose to leave it empty.”
She said further: "It will have all the usual traditions of a Sandringham gathering. The family will gather but they’ll be lacking their matriarch."
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