King Charles Will Break Queen Elizabeth II’s Biggest Christmas Tradition This Year
The royal family‘s Christmas will look a lot different this year. Following Queen Elizabeth II’s death on Sept. 8, 2022, her oldest son became the new monarch. After more than six decades U.K. residents won’t see a televised Christmas speech from the queen. Instead, it’s King Charles III who will address the nation and the Commonwealth.
Along with the Christmas address, the new king will be keeping with several other royal family traditions his mother did. However, Charles has decided to end one thing that was very important to the late queen.
King Charles is breaking 1 of the queen’s longest traditions
While most people take Christmas decorations down soon after the holiday ends, Queen Elizabeth famously kept the festive decor up at her Sandringham residence until February.
The reason for that is because the queen always stayed at Sandringham weeks after the rest of the family had left to honor her father, King George VI, who died at the Norfolk estate on Feb. 6, 1952. The entire time she was there all of the decorations remained up and staffers were instructed not to take them down until the second week of February when she left.
But as Express reported, The Royal Collection Trust has announced that the new king won’t be keeping the Christmas decorations at that royal property up for as long. The decorations there will now likely come down at the beginning of January.
Charles’ former butler says Christmas this year will be ‘difficult’ for the family
King Charles’ former butler Grant Harrold spoke to Slingo and agreed that the new monarch wouldn’t be honoring the late queen’s tradition of leaving the decorations up that long.
“The interesting bit will be that the queen famously stayed at Sandringham and the decorations apparently stayed up until she left, but I don’t see the king doing that,” Harrold said per Express.
He added that he thinks this Christmas will be particularly hard on the royals without the family matriarch this year saying: “I think it will [be difficult]. The queen and Prince Philip loved Christmas. It was all about the family, getting together and celebrating. I think they’ll want to get together for her memory.”
Will Prince Harry and Meghan receive an invite to Sandringham?
The king’s former butler also believes despite everything that has happened and the reports that Prince William is beyond angry with the Sussexes, Meghan and Harry will still get an invite to Sandringham this Christmas.
“I’d be amazed if [Harry] wasn’t offered an invitation,” Harrold said. “I have no doubt in my mind that he absolutely will be invited.”
However, because of the couple’s docuseries and the duke’s upcoming memoir, he doesn’t think Harry or his wife will attend saying that if they went it would just be “an awkward thing” so Harry will likely “decline.”
But Harrold concluded: “I think for the late queen’s sake, it would be nice for them to get together to remember her for one last time. I knew Harry well and I knew how close he was to his grandmother.”
