From their walk to the Christmas Day service at Sandringham to the King’s speech, Christmas for the Royal Family is steeped in tradition. However, this year King Charles opted to do things a little differently by recording this year’s Christmas message from Fitzrovia Chapel in London rather than at Buckingham Palace.

With the change in backdrop, viewers noticed another change to the annual message – it featured no photos on display in the background. Over the years, messages from the monarch have often led to conversations about the specific photos on display, including whether there are any pictures of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

King Charles’ Christmas broadcast broke tradition by being filmed in a different location ( 
Image:
Jordan Peck|Getty Images)

Kate looked stunning as she attended the annual carol concert in church ( 
Image:
PA)
However, the monarch avoided this scrutiny this year by filming in the neutral backdrop of the Fitzrovia Chapel, which only featured a Christmas treat in the background. Speaking exclusively to OK!, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond explained that while this was a “convenient” choice, this isn’t the first time that zero photos have been on display.

“I think the choice of the chapel was specifically to relate the King’s message to his gratitude for all that the health service does. But obviously it was convenient that it avoided analysis of any photos in the background,” she said. “However neither of his two previous Christmas messages have featured any photos either. So I don’t think anything can be made of this.”

Having stepped back as senior royals in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spent nearly five years living in Montecito, California where they are doting parents to their children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three. Since then the couple have also been busy carving out their own paths by championing causes close to their hearts and working on projects including the Archewell Foundation and Archewell Productions.

Due to this, Jennie believes that Prince Harry and Meghan wouldn’t have been “surprised” not to feature at the royals’ festive gathering at Sandringham. “Harry and Meghan have chosen a life separate from the rest of the royal family, and as time goes by, I think Harry becomes more and more set on making a happy, settled life in California with his wife and children,” she explained.

“It may be that he and the King exchanged some form of message at Christmas time, we simply don’t know and it is right that it should remain private. So I don’t think they would have been in the least surprised that they didn’t feature in any way in the celebrations at Sandringham.”