The British royal family's Christmas rituals close out a difficult year
The King's Speech will see Charles in a former hospital chapel as he and Princess Kate mark the holiday after a year in which they were diagnosed with cancer. Prince Andrew and Prince Harry will be absent.
LONDON — When Britain’s royal family gathers for Christmas dinner, the festive cheer will be closing out a turbulent 2024.
The year has proved challenging for the royals, most notably with dual cancer diagnoses for King Charles III and Kate, the Princess of Wales.
In a nod to that reality, Charles will deliver his annual King's Speech from a former hospital chapel — a break with tradition.
Charles' annual Christmas message will come from Fitzrovia Chapel in central London, once the chapel of Middlesex Hospital.WPA Pool / Getty ImagesChristmas is a “really important occasion for the royal family,” Katie Nicholl, Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent, told NBC News, noting that the last time the public saw the family “all out smiling, doing what they love, which is meeting members of the public, was Christmas Day” last year.
The royal family is spending Christmas at Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, on England’s eastern coast. The estate has been among the homes of five generations of British monarchs.
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