Meghan Markle has shared her verdict on the intricacies of celebrating Christmas Day with the Royal Family.
Meghan was invited to spend Christmas at Sandringham in 2017, before she and Harry were married, with the pair announcing their engagement just a few weeks before. She also joined the royals gathered in Norfolk in 2018.
In the Sussexes’ Netflix docuseries ‘Harry & Meghan’, the Duchess shared some insight into the festivities with the royals, describing the holiday as “amazing”.
She said: “I remember so vividly, the first Christmas at Sandringham. Calling my mum and she’s like ‘how’s it going’ and I was like oh my gosh, ‘it’s amazing’.”
Meghan Markle elaborated: “It’s just like a big family like I always wanted. And there was just this constant movement and energy and fun. At dinner, I was sat next to H’s grandfather [Prince Philip] and I just thought it was so wonderful.”
The last time Harry and Meghan spent Christmas with the royals was in 2018, when Meghan was pregnant with their firstborn, Prince Archie Harrison.
In 2019, they spent the festive season in Canada during an extended break from their royal duties, just weeks before they announced their plans to step back as senior working royals.
In Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare released January 2023, Harry explained how he and Meghan still kept some family traditions despite moving to California.
He wrote: “It was Christmas Eve. We FaceTimed with several friends, including a few in Britain. We watched Archie running around the tree. And we opened presents. Keeping to the Windsor family tradition.”
In a tradition popularised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Royal Family still exchange presents on Christmas Eve.
The couple, who are expected to spend the coming festive holidays in the US, haven’t taken part in Christmas with the Firm for years.
Harry and Meghan were also not invited to Trooping the Colour in June of this year, the annual birthday celebration for the monarch, which came a month after the Duke of Sussex was in the UK for the tenth-anniversary celebration of the Invictus Games.
Prince William, his wife, Princess Kate and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are expected to spend Christmas at Sandringham.
Harry and Meghan stepped back as working members of the Royal Family in early 2020 and relocated to Montecito, California, where they live in a luxury nine-bedroom abode.
