For the Royal Family, Christmas will be a time to regroup and reflect after what has been a difficult year, to put it mildly. The festive season may promise goodwill to all men, but that message is somewhat lost on the warring houses of Windsor and Sussex.

The traditional royal Christmas hosted by Charles and Camilla at Sandringham will give the senior members time together, but it may well be marred by crisis talks after Omid Scobie’s explosive book about the future of the monarchy, Endgame, made headlines for weeks after its release at the end of November. Scobie’s fresh claims about the falling out between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and Prince William and the Princess of Wales, as well as King Charles and Camilla, have added fresh tension to an already broken relationship – and it’s feared there may be little that can be done to mend it.

The year is ending rather in the manner in which it began. In January, Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare dominated the headlines, thanks to its dramatic revelations, including details of a physical spat with his brother, and the devastating description of how he had found out about the Queen’s death not from his father but from the BBC website. This month, however, a ‘race row’ that began in March 2021 with Harry and Meghan’s explosive claims to Oprah Winfrey that there were ‘concerns’ and ‘conversations’ about the skin colour of their unborn children after they got engaged, has reignited with the Dutch edition of Scobie’s book naming the alleged royals involved.

The royals are said to be ‘shocked and angered’ by this latest storm, which Scobie insists was a mistake – adding he had not been briefed by the Sussexes on any part of Endgame. This latest drama will make for a more divided Christmas than ever but, as is always the case, The Firm will ‘keep calm and carry on’. This message was clear when the four senior royals hosted the annual white-tie reception promoting UK diplomacy at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday 5 December, putting on a united front with a heavy frosting of glamour in the form of tiaras for the Queen and Kate.

In fact, it’s been entirely business as usual for William and Kate despite the headlines – privately attending all the end-of-term Christmas concerts and plays at their children’s school and publicly conducting engagements such as hosting Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and her husband in Windsor.
The Princess of Wales also hosted her hugely popular annual Christmas carol concert ‘to recognise those who have gone above and beyond to help others through the year’, which will be broadcast on ITV on Christmas Eve.

The King and Queen will host the traditional Christmas lunch for the extended family, such as his cousins the Earl of Snowdon and Lady Sarah Chatto, plus their families, before moving court to Norfolk. At Sandringham, the traditions that the late Queen Elizabeth established will continue with a black-tie supper on Christmas Eve, joke presents laid out on trestle tables, two church services at St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate (with George, Charlotte and Louis after his debut last year) and the traditional turkey lunch before the King’s speech. But with Camilla as the chatelaine in charge, the festivities will be slightly more relaxed and boisterous. For the first time this year, her two children and their partners, and her five grandchildren will attend the traditional royal Christmas, meaning Christmas Day lunch will be served in the larger ballroom of Sandringham House rather than the dining room, as has been the tradition. Last Christmas, a few extra members of Camilla’s family meant an additional table was needed in the White Drawing Room, but this year it’s thought ‘they wish to dine all together’. The Middleton family usually stay with William and Kate at Anmer Hall for Christmas Day but, as this year James and his wife Alizee have just had baby Inigo, they may perhaps stay in Berkshire.

And what of Harry and Meghan? They will be spending Christmas in California, once again estranged from the royal family. Sadly, prior to this most recent firestorm, say sources, there were olive branches being proffered on both sides of the Atlantic. According to one source, the Sussexes had let it be known that they would like to be invited to the UK for the ‘holidays’, while Charles was enjoying videos of his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet singing him happy birthday.

Charles has never spent a Christmas with Archie and Lili, nor, it is thought, any significant time with them. It is understood there is deep sadness on both sides at this status quo. Archie was born in May 2019 and met his grandfather just a couple of times before his parents left for Canada that year in November, before moving to the US in March 2020. Lili

was born in California in June 2021 and has only met Charles once – for the first time last summer in what was reported as a very ‘emotional’ meeting. The Sussexes are said to be keen to maintain some kind of contact between Archie, four, Lili, two, and their grandfather.

Could there, however, be a future Christmas where they and their royal cousins all sit round the Sandringham dinner table? The answer to that question feels far from clear. Relations are at an all-time low. Camilla, William and Kate all came under heavy fire in Harry’s memoir and with the added storm surrounding Omid’s book it will take time for those wounds to heal, if ever. Once the furore abates, perhaps time and reflection will bring the peace and goodwill that many crave. For now, though, the family remains more divided than ever.