Each and every year the Royal Family comes together to celebrate the festive season, with the monarch’s annual Christmas message the centrepiece of the royal traditions.
The family also take part in a walkabout on their way to church on Christmas Day, where they chat with members of the public – but most of the House of Windsor’s festive traditions take place behind closed doors. Some of their traditions date so far back that they may come across as a little bit weird and wonderful, and there is one in particular that Princess Kate is reportedly hoping to update because she finds it a little “weird” – which would be a break with nearly two hundred years of tradition.
The future Queen is reported by the Daily Beast to find it strange that the royals exchange their Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day itself. This is in line with the Royal Family’s German heritage and was first established during Queen Victoria’s reign.
Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901, and her husband Prince Albert also popularised the use of Christmas trees in England – another German tradition. The tradition of exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve has been maintained by the royals ever since Victoria’s reign, and the late Queen Elizabeth is said to have supported it not only because she admired her long-reigning ancestor but also because she preferred to focus on the religious aspects of the festival on Christmas Day itself, as a dedicated Christian.
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