The Royal Family’s festive season is not without some strict royal rules, with some even seeming particularly bizarre to the public.
Every family across the world has their own traditions that they like to follow, and the royals are no different.
The family typically spend Christmas at the Sandringham estate, with the King set to host there for the second time this year.
When it comes to gifts, the late Queen was known to shop for her staff’s presents many months in advance.
According to royal expert Brian Hoey, the late monarch liked to be prepared and reportedly asked her staff for their Christmas wishlists in March.
Speaking previously to Express.co.uk, Mr Hoey said: “They get to choose their own present – with a couple of conditions.
“First, they have to have been in royal service for more than a year, otherwise they don’t qualify.”
Mr Hoey also added that, according to the now-King Charles, rules came with which gift they could chose.
The expert added: “Next, they cannot have anything – as Prince Charles might put it – ‘above their station’.”
He also added that there was a pricing budget tied to the gifts they could request.
Mr Hoey said: “This means the most junior staff can have a gift worth £28, increasing year by year to a maximum of £35.”
As well as their staff, the Royal Family are known to incorporate their love of fun into buying comedic gifts for one another.
According to his memoir Spare, Prince Harry once gifted his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, a “Big Mouth Billy Bass singing toy that was said to sit proudly in Balmoral, her Scottish retreat, and provide the Queen with great laughs”.
Humorous gifts even extended to the older generation of royals, with Princess Anne once gifting her brother, Charles a leather toilet seat.
As well as the time of gifts and when they are purchased, the Royal Family have reportedly kept to the German tradition of opening presents on December 24 – instead of Christmas Day.
This tradition means that the Prince and Princess of Wales’s three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – will, no doubt, be excited to open their gifts a little earlier than their royal cousins.
