 | | Sean Coughlan and Rosemary McCabe |
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| Wherever you are in the world, happy Christmas and best wishes from the Royal Watch team.
This week there’s a royal project which offers a reminder that Christmas is about giving.
Plus, it’s a time of year for traditions and every family has their own. Something cheesy you always watch or a story that always gets told. You might be waiting for that moment of pause, when BBC radio plays the carols from King’s College Cambridge, or when you raise a glass to someone no longer with us.
There are royal Christmas traditions too from over the centuries. So sit back and enjoy some pics from Christmas past. |
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| | | Freezer jolly good fellow | By Sean Coughlan
The donation of freezers by King Charles has helped a food charity double the amount of food it can provide for struggling families.
Through a royal charity last year, the King contributed towards a £1m fund to buy 800 freezers. The Felix Project in London is now saving the equivalent of almost a million meals a year, using food which would otherwise be thrown away. |
|  | | Earlier this year King Charles visited The Felix Project, which provides meals for vulnerable people. Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage |
| The freezers have been described as a “game changer” by one of the food banks, because it allows them to accept and keep food that would otherwise be wasted. One charity in London said it doubled the number of meals that could be saved, using surplus food from supermarkets and caterers.
They could be very important presents for some families this Christmas. |
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| Quiz the season | | Last week, we asked you to send us ideas for a picture caption on the image below. |
|  | | Credit: Duncan Stone |
| We received caption suggestions from all over the world, with lots on the theme of Santa joining the King for Christmas lunch or the pair swapping transportation on the ride home. We especially liked the punny: "Now, Your Majesty, the elves have been working on a new, non-leak pen that I think Yule find quite lovely…”
The best around the Royal Watch desk was: "Have you come far?" |
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| 🎄ROYAL CHRISTMAS QUIZ🎄 | When do the Royal Family give each other presents?
A) Christmas Eve. They lay out their presents on tables and exchange gifts at teatime.
B) They don't. They couldn't possibly think of anything to ask for.
C) Christmas Day. They put presents in stockings and pass them round at Christmas lunch.
Read to the bottom of this newsletter for the answer. |
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| | | | | Christmas and the Royals | By Rosemary McCabe
Queen Charlotte, the German wife of George III, set up the first known royal Christmas tree in Windsor in 1800. But it was Queen Victoria who made many modern Christmas traditions popular in the UK.
These Christmas customs reflected Queen Victoria’s German ancestry and were celebrated in earnest by her German-born husband, Prince Albert.
Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their nine children would cover their tree in wax candles and sweets such as barley sugar and sugar plums.
For their Christmas dinner, a menu from Queen Victoria’s reign in the 1890s shows pheasant, turkey, a wild boar’s head, salmon, pork, woodcock pie, beef sirloins known as baron of beef, plum pudding and mince pies. |
|  | | Popular illustrations showed Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children celebrating around an elaborately decorated Christmas tree. Soon families across Britain had one of their own. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images |
| | Sending Christmas cards also became popular during the Victorian era, a practice made possible by the development of the postal system and the introduction of Penny Black stamps in 1840, with their distinctive design featuring Queen Victoria. |
| | Over the years, several generations of royals sent their own Christmas cards and even produced seasonal gift books. |
|  | | In 1908, Queen Alexandra released a Christmas Gift Book featuring images of King Edward VII. Credit: The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images |
|  | | Royal Christmas cards have always adapted to the mood of the era. In 1914, King George V and Queen Mary sent a greeting card to British troops fighting in World War One. Credit: The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images |
|  | | In 1942, a young Princess Elizabeth sent Christmas cards to the Grenadier Guards fighting in World War Two. Credit: Express/Getty Images |
| | And, of course, we still get royal Christmas cards today, showing families growing up, and often drawing scrutiny for the images they choose to portray themselves. |
|  | | The 2023 family Christmas card of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Credit: Josh Shinner/ Kensington Palace/Getty Images |
|  | | The King and Queen's 2023 Christmas card. Credit: Buckingham Palace/Hugo Burnand/PA/PA Wire |
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| The Queen of Christmas | | During the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, Christmas was often captured on camera - from black and white photos of the young princess heading to Sandringham to pictures of the late Queen taking the train to the same Norfolk residence some 81 years later. |
|  | | In 1937, Princess Elizabeth along with the Queen Mother, King George VI and Princess Margaret were pictured at King’s Cross before heading to Sandringham for Christmas. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images |
|  | | In 2018, the Queen was snapped heading to Sandringham on the train for the royal Christmas get-to-together. Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images |
| | Queen Elizabeth II has also been pictured enjoying a whole host of Christmas activities - from extravagant royal pantomimes to cooking Christmas pudding with the family. |
|  | | The young Princess Elizabeth used to act in Christmas pantomimes, including Cinderella (above, on the left), Old Mother Red Riding Boots and Aladdin. Credit: Lisa Sheridan/Studio Lisa/Hulton Archive/Getty Images |
|  | | For the 1969 Royal Family documentary, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were filmed admiring the decorations on their Christmas tree. Credit: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images |
|  | | In 2019, four generations of Windsors made Christmas pudding together. Credit: Chris Jackson/PA Wire |
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| Christmas Service | Every Christmas morning the Royal Family attend a church service at St Mary Magdalene, Sandringham.
It’s also become something of an annual media moment as they‘re pictured leaving the church and chatting to visitors. |
|  | | Queen Elizabeth II, in festive red, after Christmas Day service 2015. Credit: Peter Nicholls/Reuters |
|  | | Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Andrew, Diana, Princess of Wales, Princess Anne, her children Zara and Peter, and Prince Philip after Christmas Day service 1985. Credit: Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images |
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 | | Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry after Christmas Day service 2017. Credit: Adrian Dennis/AFP |
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| A Christmas message | |  | | King George V delivered the first Christmas broadcast by radio. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images |
| The inaugural speech was written by the writer Rudyard Kipling. And these early Christmas messages were only on the radio, before the first TV version was delivered in 1957.
The traditional timing of 3pm isn’t about letting people finish their Christmas dinners, it was intended that the international broadcast could be heard in as many time zones as possible. |
|  | | Queen Elizabeth II gave the first televised Christmas message in 1957. Credit: PA |
|  | | Queen Elizabeth II's last Christmas speech was broadcast in December 2021. Credit: Victoria Jones/PA Wire |
|  | | King Charles’s first Christmas speech was broadcast in December 2022. Credit: Victoria Jones/PA Wire |
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