| Welcome to this week’s Royal Watch.
The Christmas cards are arriving. But the royals don’t go for those soulless corporate email greetings, it’s still a decent bit of cardboard with a picture. What do their card choices say about them?
Plus, the King’s visit to a Christmas market saw some unexpected banter with Santa. What do you think they were saying?
And Prince William and Prince Harry are still evoking the legacy of Princess Diana in trying to help others. |
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| | | Christmas cards and royal jeans | This year’s royal Christmas cards have been revealed – and unlike the random cards the rest of us send, they end up being carefully scrutinised.
Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, went for a stripped back, black and white family portrait, white shirts and jeans. |
|  | | The Prince and Princess of Wales have sparked conversation with their choice of Christmas card. Credit: Josh Shinner/ Kensington Palace via Getty Images |
| | Royal Watch has noted before how Prince William’s style choice is heading towards an informal, tie-less monarchy. It’s now jacket-less as well. Sock manufacturers must already be getting nervous. |
| | You can imagine the conversations when the photo for the card was being taken. Do we look like we’re in a Gap advert? Or a school photo for celebs? Can’t we have a couple of robins to give a tiny hint of Christmas? |
| | That wouldn’t have fitted with the artistic vision. It costs a lot of money these days to look casual. |
| | King Charles has seen it all before. Sitting there, nursing a glass of Laphraoig, Fairytale of New York on the cassette player, he’d have thought: Christmas card? Picture of us. Same as last year. |
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|  | | King Charles III and Queen Camilla were pictured in The Throne Room at Buckingham Palace on their 2023 Christmas card. Credit: Buckingham Palace/Hugo Burnand/PA |
| | So the King and Queen’s card shows the Coronation, in an archetypal image of royalty. And they didn’t even need to get a new one taken. |
| | As the wording simply says: “Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.” |
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| | | | | Santa Banter | Duncan Stone, the royal cameraman, captured a seasonal encounter this week with this great picture.
The King was visiting the Christmas market in Ealing Broadway, west London, when he met another venerable institution: Father Christmas. |  | | What do you think they were saying? Credit: Duncan Stone |
| The Santa in question, who described his non-Santa life as a “frustrated thespian”, said he’d reassured the King he was on “Santa’s ‘very good boy’ list”.
Santa also asked the King “if there was room for my sleigh to park” in Sandringham. I guess they’d be the reign-deer.
But what do you think the King and Kris Kringle were saying? What’s your caption for the picture? Send us your suggestions. | |
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| | Christmas giving | There were definite echoes of Princess Diana this week in some of the news about her sons and their families.
Prince William’s children were brought by their mother to a project helping families facing poverty this Christmas. An accompanying video said that a quarter of children aged under five in the UK are now living in poverty. |
|  | | The Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte volunteered at the Baby Bank in Holyport near Maidenhead. Credit: Will Warr/Kensington Palace/PA Wire |
|  | | Prince George, alongside his siblings, helped to sift through gifts at the Baby Bank, helping to choose toys for those in need. Credit: Will Warr/Kensington Palace/PA Wire |
| George, Charlotte and Louis helped to pick Christmas gifts for struggling families and were told about the importance of volunteering and helping those in need.
It was a reminder of the profound influence on Prince William of being brought as a child by his mother to The Passage homelessness charity.
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 | | Diana, Princess of Wales, with Prince Harry and Prince William visiting homeless charity The Passage in 1993. Credit: Kensington Palace |
| |  | | Diana visited a minefield being cleared by the charity Halo in Huambo, Angola, in 1997. Credit: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty. |
| The tax filings also show that one of the projects backed by Archewell last year was the Halo Trust.
The mine-clearing charity gained international fame when it was supported by Princess Diana, with some famous photos of her visiting a project in Angola in 1997.
Her legacy of giving and raising awareness is still living on. |
|  | | Prince George, Prince Louis and the Princess of Wales toasted marshmallows with Scouts as part of the Big Help Out to mark the King’s Coronation. Credit: Reuters |
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