Prince George and Princess Charlotte have joined the Queen at the royal family's traditional Christmas Day church service on her Sandringham estate for the first time.
George, six, and four-year-old Charlotte walked the short distance from Sandringham House to St Mary Magdalene Church hand in hand with their parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The Prince of Wales walked alongside them.
One-year-old Prince Louis stayed at the house.
The 93-year-old Queen, wearing a red coat and hat, arrived at the church in a maroon Bentley with the Duchess of Cornwall.
Although the Duke of Edinburgh was discharged from hospital on Christmas Eve, he did not attend the church service on the Queen's private estate in Norfolk.
The duke was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital in central London on Friday and spent four nights undergoing treatment for an undisclosed ongoing health issue.
The 98-year-old, who received minor injuries after being involved in a car crash near the estate in January, missed the service at St Mary Magdalene Church last year to stay at home, despite being in good health at the time.
The Duke of York did not arrive with the Queen, as he did in 2018, but with his brother Prince Charles, amid the fallout from a disastrous television interview about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The brothers arrived together and walked side-by-side as they headed into St Mary Magdalene Church for the 9am service, ahead of the royal family's traditional 11am service.
Andrew stepped down from public duties for the foreseeable future following his appearance on BBC Newsnight, when he was heavily criticised for showing little remorse over his friendship with convicted sex offender Epstein.
In the interview, the duke denied claims he slept with Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's victims, on three separate occasions.
Andrew's daughter Princess Beatrice was joined by fiance Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi for the first time at the church, after the Daily Mail reported the Queen had extended an invitation to the property tycoon.
In another departure from last year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not walk into the church side by side with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Harry and Meghan will be celebrating Archie Mountbatten-Windsor's first festive season in an undsiclosed location with the duchess's mother, Doria Ragland, instead of joining the royal family's traditional celebration in Norfolk.
However, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did post a Christmas message on their official SussexRoyal Instagram account.
The message, on a navy background under the couple's monogram with a Santa hat resting on it, reads: "Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas - Their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex."
Their choice to spend Christmas away from Sandringham follows claims of a rift, first between Meghan and Kate, which appeared to have been been quashed as they arrived together at last year's service, and then between Harry and brother William.
In an ITV television documentary broadcast in October, Harry, when asked about the situation, said he loved his brother dearly but they were "on different paths at the moment".
Well-wishers who gather to see the royals take their traditional stroll to the church may be hoping to catch a glimpse of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
If so, it would be the first time the younger royals have attended the Christmas Day service.
As the Queen is head of the Church of England, it is a key part of royal celebrations.
Following the service, the Windsors enjoy a festive lunch back at Sandringham House and then settle down together to watch the Queen's Christmas Day speech.
In her broadcast to the nation and the Commonwealth, the Queen is to acknowledge the "bumpy" path the royal family and the nation has experienced over the past 12 months.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel