When it comes to celebrating Christmas, members of the Royal Family are known to gather at the Sandringham in Norfolk each year - and this year was no different. Earlier this month, Prince William revealed at an event for families of the 1st Battalion Mercian Regiment at Picton Barracks in Wiltshire that a whopping 45 royals would be at Sandringham.
On Christmas Day itself, royal watchers gathered at Sandringham to watch the King and Queen joined by the likes of the Princess and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal head to St Mary Magdalene Church as per tradition.
But despite having a huge number of guests, the residence is one of the smallest and least grand, making Christmas a rather cosy affair for guests. The estate sleeps around 16 to 18 people comfortably, according to reports, and some guests allegedly have to share rooms with “fish finger” style beds.
However, when they run out of beds a royal expert has claimed that the royals turn the staff quarters into guest rooms. “In previous years I've been told that they've actually had to kick staff out of their quarters. And Edward and Sophie were put in some of the staff quarters because they had nowhere else to stay,” royal commentator Rebecca English told MailOnline.
She added: “It sounds more glamorous than it is.” Rebecca then explained that the beds are like “fish finger beds” and have “creaky bedsprings at the bottom”.
Elsewhere, during an appearance on the Apple Fitness + podcast Time to Walk, Prince William gave a glimpse inside his Christmases at Sandringham as he walked around the estate and passed the St Mary Magdalene church. As he stood outside of the church, the Prince of Wales spoke about annual Christmas morning services from years gone by.
“What's very good about it is that we sit opposite each other as a family, and growing up, having my cousins sat opposite me has always been quite difficult to keep a straight face at times,” he said.
“I have had the giggles many, many times in the service. Luckily, no one's filming it. So you can get away with it, and on Christmas Day, it's fun to have a giggle and enjoy yourself." He then went on to talk about his happy memories of walking from the main house to the church on Christmas morning.”
And recalling the walk from the main house to the church on Christmas morning, he added: “I have strong memories of walking down here, and my grandfather, he used to walk so fast that there'd be huge gaps and spaces between all of us walking down, and there'd be us at the back with little legs trying to keep up. You know, I think, over time, you start to feel quite attached to those moments and those memories before.”
