The Queen's Christmases through the decades - and why they've changed dramatically
The royals' Christmas will look rather different this year, with Prince Philip gone, The Queen forced by doctors to rest more, and Harry and Meghan still far away in LA.
But as tradition dictates, the royals will still head for Sandringham House in Norfolk, the home of royal Christmases for the past few decades, to be with the Queen.
A palace source was quoted as saying,"The Queen has told everyone she is feeling far better of late and is very much looking forward to welcoming (the family) for Christmas."
Read more: The Queen 'will host family Christmas', but how will it look this year?
Likely attendees this year will be Princess Anne and her husband Commander Tim Lawrence, Edward and Sophie Wessex, Charles and Camilla, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with their three children.
Prince Andrew is still welcome at family events despite his current troubles, and daughters Eugenie and Beatrice with husbands Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and their new babies will almost certainly visit during the festive period.
Generally, the Royal Christmas features an afternoon exchange of 'silly' presents and a black tie dinner on Christmas Eve, followed by church on Christmas Day at St Mary Magdalene, Sandringham, a buffet and games.
This year may be quieter, as the Queen is now widowed. She generally heads to Sandringham by train the week before Christmas, and has often been photographed arriving at King's Lynn railway station. She remains at Sandringham until February, when she will return to Windsor, now her primary home.
But while some royal traditions remain constant, over the years, the guests, family members and surrounding events have changed. Here's a look back at Royal Christmases past.
1950s
The young Queen
Newly coronated Elizabeth broadcast her first radio Christmas message to the Commonwealth from her study at Sandringham House on the 25 December 1952, just 11 months after her father's death. The Christmas speech wasn't broadcast on TV until 1957.
Royal Christmas in the 1950s was held at Windsor Castle, and guests would include the widowed Queen Mother, and of course, Prince Charles and Princess Anne would bring the excitement as small children.
In her first Christmas message, The Queen talked about maintaining the tradition of Christmas broadcasts passed on to her by George V and George VI and said she would "strive to carry on their work to unite the peoples of the Empire and maintain their ideals".
She also thanked her people for their "loyalty and affection" in the first months of her reign. She talked of the Commonwealth as an "immense union of nations" that "can be a great power for good – a force which I believe can be of immeasurable benefit to all humanity."
The young family always attended church on Christmas morning, and would have a Nordman Fir Christmas tree, cut down from Windsor Great Park.
1960s
A happy Christmas
In the 1960s, Princes Andrew and Edward joined the family Christmas, which was still held at Windsor Castle. In 1969, the Queen didn't give a televised speech as she apparently felt that after combination of Prince Charles' televised investiture as Prince of Wales, and the release of an unprecedented documentary about the royal family, the public 'may have had enough.'
During the 60s the royals were joined for Christmas by Princess Margaret and her husband Anthony Armstrong-Jones; Their children, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, as well as the Queen Mother, Charles, Andrew, Edward and Princess Anne.
Read more: Queen's childhood Christmas pantomime costumes on display
1970s
Growing up
In 1975, the Queen broadcast her speech from outside Buckingham Palace, after a difficult year of strikes and power cuts. In 1978, her first grandchild, Peter Philips was born and came with Princess Anne and her then-husband Captain Mark Philips to Windsor for Christmas.
In those days, unmarried partners were not invited to spend the festive season at the castle, and the celebrations were very much family-only. By now, Princess Margaret was divorced, so attended alone.
1980s
Diana arrives
In 1981, Prince Charles married Diana, who then joined the royals at Windsor for Christmas. Her misery by the end of the '80s is well documented, but soon after their marriage, she was revelling in huge popularity and the number of fans waiting to see the royals attend church on Christmas day boomed.
When Prince William was born in 1982 and Harry in 1984, they joined the royals for Christmas too, along with Zara, Princess Anne's daughter born in 1981, Prince Andrew's new wife Sarah Ferguson and their small daughter Princess Beatrice, born in 1988.
Royal Christmases were suddenly filled with small children, and a much livelier atmosphere.
In 1988, Christmas returned to Sandringham while Windsor castle was rewired, and has remained there ever since.
1990s
A difficult decade
Trouble came in the 1990s for Prince Charles and Diana. As documented in the film Spencer, Diana's gloomy Christmas at Sandringham in 1992 was the beginning of the end of their marriage. Charles' affair with Camilla Parker Bowles came to light, and fire engulfed Windsor Castle, destroying priceless sections of the building.
The Queen's Christmas speech that year referred to her 'annus horribilis' and talked of the importance of personal fortitude.
Princess Eugenie was born in 1990, and joined royal Christmases - though by 1992, Andrew and Fergie had separated, and like Charles and Diana, they divorced in 1996, ending Fergie's royal Christmases.
Shockingly, 1997 saw the sudden death of Princess Diana in a car crash. That Christmas, The Queen said, "We all felt the shock and sorrow of Diana's death.
"Thousands upon thousands of you expressed your grief most poignantly in the wonderful flowers and messages left in tribute to her. That was a great comfort to all those close to her, while people all around the world joined us here in Britain for that service in Westminster Abbey."
The family ended the decade in very different shape, joined by Sophie Wessex, whom Edward married in 1999.
'00s
Changing times
In 2002, the Queen lost both her mother, who died aged 101 and her sister, Princess Margaret.
Christmas was irrevocably changed, and in her Christmas broadcast, the Monarch spoke about "personal loss" and the comfort she had found in her faith and the tributes of others.
The decade also saw the Queen's golden jubilee, and Charles' marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005, who joined the family at Christmas from then on.
The Wessexes had two children - Lady Louise and James, Viscount Severn, who became a part of the family Christmas.
2010s
A new generation
Royal life had a significant boost in 2011 when Prince William married his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey, and Prince George was born in summer 2013, followed by Princess Charlotte in 2015. Their little brother, Louis, followed in 2018, the year Prince Harry married Meghan Markle, who gave birth to Archie in 2019.
Christmas 2018 was held at Sandringham with the Cambridges and the Sussexes in attendance- the last year that would be the case, as Harry and Meghan had already left for Canada by the following Christmas.
Now, royal Christmases have changed once again - last year, the Queen and Prince Philip stayed at Sandringham due to the pandemic, though current plans are that she will leave for Sandringham next week.
There will be some very significant absences this year - but the sadness will be eased by the new babies, joining the family for their very first royal Christmas.
