How Meghan Markle ‘Inspired’ Princess Beatrice to Quietly Break a Long-Standing Royal Family Tradition
Meghan Markle helped pave the way for Princess Beatrice to break royal tradition. How? By celebrating Christmas with the royal family before marrying Prince Harry. Ahead, how the Duchess of Sussex’s 2017 royal family Christmas appearance later “inspired” Beatrice to do the same with her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
Meghan broke tradition by spending Christmas with the royal family in 2017
Just weeks after Harry and Meghan’s engagement announcement, the pair celebrated Christmas together. Meghan joined Harry as the British royal family marked the holiday with a stay at Sandringham, the monarch’s estate in the English countryside.
Meghan’s addition was notably out of the ordinary because, per royal tradition, only spouses are invited to Christmas. Days later, Harry told BBC Radio 4’s Today his then-fiancée had a “fantastic” time.
“The family loved having her there,” he said. “I think together we had an amazing time,” he said, noting he had “plenty” of traditions to explain and that she’d “done an absolutely amazing job” (via Hello! Magazine).
Edo joined Beatrice at the royal family’s 2019 Christmas celebration when they were engaged
Two years after Meghan broke royal tradition by being with Harry at the royal family’s 2017 Christmas festivities, Beatrice did the same with her husband. Although Mozzi wasn’t officially part of the royal family, he joined his then-fiancée for the holiday.
The two were seen walking to church together on Christmas Day 2019, alongside other royals. According to Express, Meghan’s attendance in 2017 “inspired Beatrice to do the same,” meaning Mozzi “was given the rare privilege of joining the Christmas celebrations — despite not officially being part of the family.”
Similar to Harry and Meghan, Beatrice and Mozzi announced their engagement in the months ahead of Christmas. They went public with the news in September 2019 before later marrying in a small ceremony on July 17, 2020.
As previously mentioned, royal tradition is that only spouses are invited to the annual Christmas celebration, including a big dinner, walking to church, and opening presents on Christmas Eve.
As royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams remarked in 2021, although the royal family is known to follow tradition, they do, on occasion, break it.
“In 2010, Kate was not invited to do so after her engagement to William. Nor was Mike Tindall after his to the Princess Royal’s daughter Zara Phillips, and only spouses and close family are usually invited,” he said at the time. “The monarchy relies heavily on precedent and tradition, but it also makes its own.”
Meghan ‘vividly’ remembers spending Christmas with the royal family
In Netflix’s 2022 Harry & Meghan docuseries, Meghan looked back on her first big royal family event: Christmas 2017.
“I remember so vividly the first Christmas at Sandringham,” Meghan said. “Calling my mom [Doria Ragland], and she’s like, ‘How’s it going?’ And I said, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s amazing.’”
“It’s just like a big family like I always wanted,” she recalled. “And there was just this constant movement and energy and fun.”
“At dinner, I was sat next to H’s grandfather and I just thought it was so wonderful,” Meghan continued. “I was like, ‘Oh, we chatted, and it was so great, and I talked about this and talked about this.’”
Even Harry sharing that Meghan had the late Duke of Edinburgh’s “bad ear” didn’t shake the excitement she felt about the occasion.
“He]was like, ‘You had [his] bad ear. He couldn’t hear anything you were saying,’” Meghan recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, well, I thought it went really well.’”
