King Charles III (lr), King’s Consort Camilla, Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte and Kate, Princess of Wales leave St. Mary Magdalene Church following the Christmas service.
King Charles III of Great Britain during the Christmas service “Together at Christmas” in Westminster Abbey.
With Andrew, without Harry: Royal Family celebrates Christmas – Gallery
King Charles III (r) and King’s consort Camilla lead the royal family as they arrive for Christmas service at St Mary Magdalene Church.
King Charles III (lr), King’s Consort Camilla, Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte and Kate, Princess of Wales leave St. Mary Magdalene Church following the Christmas service.
King Charles III of Great Britain during the Christmas service “Together at Christmas” in Westminster Abbey.
For the first time in three years, the Royal Family attended the Christmas service in Sandringham together. When singing together, King Charles and Co. demonstrate their unity and commemorate the Queen. But all is not peaceful behind the scenes.
With scandal Prince Andrew but without the estranged Prince Harry, the royal family has celebrated the first Christmas without the Queen. With King Charles III. at the helm, the Royals returned to the traditional service near their Sandringham residence in eastern England for the first time since the pandemic on Boxing Day. Prince Louis (4), the youngest son of heir to the throne Prince William and Princess Kate, wore shorts when the temperatures were quite mild. Numerous onlookers waited hours to catch a glimpse of the royals.
For the royals, Christmas was all regarding Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8 following 70 years on the throne. Charles commemorated his “beloved mother” in his first Christmas speech as king. He shares with the Queen the belief in people who might touch the lives of others with kindness and compassion. This is “the essence of our community and the foundation of our society,” Charles said of images of the Queen.
Charles thanks for “selfless commitment”
But he also paid particular attention to helpers in need. Charles also explicitly thanked employees in the health and social services as well as teachers and all employees in the public sector for their “selfless commitment”. In these sectors in particular, there is currently dissatisfaction with low wage increases, and there are always strikes. The king’s words were accompanied, among other things, by pictures of food banks – many people in Great Britain are suffering from rising prices for food and energy.
His daughter-in-law Kate had previously dedicated a Christmas carol to the Queen at London’s Westminster Abbey, which she had organized and which was televised on Christmas Eve. She paid tribute to the Queen’s “incredible legacy” that “has deeply inspired many of us”. Kate and William’s children Prince George, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 7, sang along loudly.
Charles and his wife Queen Camilla were among the 1,800 guests at the event. Heir apparent William read an excerpt from the Queen’s 2012 Christmas message.
hardened fronts
The British media emphasized above all the demonstrative joint appearance of the royals. In doing so, they would have set a sign of unity once morest the allegations made by William’s younger brother Harry and his wife Duchess Meghan in the Netflix series “Harry and Meghan”. The second part of the series was posted on December 15th, the day of Kate’s Christmas carols.
The fronts between Harry and Meghan, who live in California with their children Archie and Lilibet, and the family in England are considered hardened. The couple have repeatedly accused the palace of lack of support and even racism. In his first speech as king, Charles had declared his love for the two. But in view of the Netflix series and the January 10 release of Harry’s autobiography, the alienation has increased, it said in London. Harry declined an invitation to celebrate Christmas together in England.
Andrew at the service
Among those attending the service in Sandringham were both Charles’ brothers, including Prince Andrew, who was involved in a sexual abuse scandal. He appeared with his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and their husbands. As the newspaper “Sun” recently reported, Andrew has an increasingly difficult position in the royal family. Charles threw the 62-year-old out of Buckingham Palace, the newspaper wrote. Andrew is no longer allowed to use an office there and is no longer allowed to use the city palace as a correspondence address. “Any presence at the palace has officially ended,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying.
After a feast, the royals wanted to see Charles’ first Christmas speech together in the followingnoon, which the monarch had recorded almost two weeks ago. The tradition was started in 1932 by Charles’ great-grandfather, King George V. It was the first time that a king gave the televised Christmas speech. In 1957, Charles’ mother Queen Elizabeth II was the first monarch to address the population on television at Christmas. Unlike the British, the royals didn’t give presents on Christmas morning. The gift giving traditionally takes place on Christmas Eve – this is due to the German roots of the family.
By Benedict von Imhoff, dpa