Considering that Catherine will be hosting her yearly Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey, the Prince and Princess of Wales are undoubtedly anticipating the holiday season.
The couple traditionally spend Christmas with the rest of the royal family at Sandringham in Norfolk, stepping out to greet locals on the way to church. And in recent years, Prince William and Catherine’s three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis have joined them for the annual outing.
Although their plans for this year are still pending, William and Catherine have only missed two Christmases with the royal family since getting married in 2011.
The then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge chose to celebrate the holidays in Bucklebury, Berkshire, with Catherine’s parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, in 2012.
Catherine was experiencing severe illness, or hyperemesis gravidarum, during the first few months of her pregnancy with Prince George. She was admitted to the hospital with the illness a few weeks prior to Christmas Day in 2012.
In order to facilitate the Princess’s recuperation, the couple stayed with the Middletons that year. They subsequently paid a private visit to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at the Sandringham estate.
Then, in 2016, William and Catherine deviated from the norm once more by spending Christmas in Bucklebury with Catherine’s family.
The couple, along with Catherine’s siblings Pippa and James, Carole, and Michael, delighted royal fans by bringing George, then three, and Charlotte, then one, to the church service.
With Charlotte matching her mother in a navy jacket and burgundy tights, and George wrapped up in a grey button-up coat, the young royals walked out of church holding candy canes.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Christmas Day walkabout was canceled in 2020 and 2021. At the time, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall spent Christmas with the late Queen in Windsor, while William and Catherine went to church with their kids in Norfolk.
In 2022, Prince Louis walked to church with his family for the first time, resuming the joyous custom.