From folding napkins after use to visiting church, the Royal Family have a number of Christmas traditions, but Prince Harry is said to disapprove of one in particular.
After filling up with food, some of the royals head out to the 20,000-acre Sandringham Estate on Boxing Day for a spot of shooting, where they hunt for plump pheasants and grouse.
This tradition goes back generations, with King Charles being a particular fan of the activity having hosted shooting parties on the estate during his time as a student.
It is thought he may now have assumed Prince Philip’s former role as hunt leader, with the King’s father once killing 10,000 pheasants during a seven-week stay at Sandringham in 1993.
Both Prince Harry and Prince William began shooting at a young age, however their mother Princess Diana hated them taking part and once told them “I shall now call you both the ‘Killer Wales’”.
And it seems Harry now feels the same way as it is believed his wife Meghan Markle thought it was “unnecessary cruelty to animals” and persuaded him to stop. It is thought the Duke of Sussex sold his precious handmade hunting rifles for a reported £50,000 before they moved to California.
Royal expert Duncan Larcombe told OK magazine: “We’re led to believe that Harry’s love of shooting has somewhat diminished since he met Meghan, and we haven’t seen him on a single shoot since then.”
But despite Harry and Meghan’s dislike of the activity, one royal source has described Princess Kate as a “keen markswoman” who has become “a really good shot”.
Mr Larcombe says the royals have now scaled back the shoots in response to public opinion. He told OK: “The family are more on-message these days and I think the King will know the public are watching closely.
“For the time being, there will still be shoots, though not on the scale of Prince Philip shooting thousands of birds in a season. He must have been pretty angry that year.”
Former royal bodyguard Ken Wharfe told OK that the Norfolk estate is the perfect place for shooting. He said: “Everything is in place and there is privacy and security. It is one of the great shooting estates with the best managers and gamekeepers.”
