How Royalty Around The World Spent Christmas
Christmas is a grand time for everyone, but when it comes to royal families around the world, Christmas celebrations reach a whole new level of majesty. From Britain to Jordan, see how monarchies around the world celebrated the most festive time of the year.
The British royals
The British royal family have an annual Christmas tradition of attending the annual Christmas Eve church service. The family typically listens to Christmas carol at the service and the British public are allowed to watch the event unfold from sidelines. The Queen, her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren are usually present, but this time newly engaged couple Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were not in attendance. The Prince and Meghan will reportedly catch up with the royal family when they join them at their Christmas Day lunch in their Sandringham estate and charmingly join in on traditions like playing charades, watching Princes William and Harry play a one-on-one football match, and of course, gift-giving.
Photo: Shutterstock/Splash News via Splash News Australia
The Swedish royals
Crown Princess Victoria and Crown Prince Daniel of Sweden enjoyed a rather relaxed Christmas holiday with their two small children, Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar. The family was kept busy with a photo shoot that gave Swedes adorable snaps of the family bonding over wintry outdoor activities. The Swedish royal family also celebrated the christening of the youngest addition to their tight-knit clan, Prince Gabriel, Princess Victoria's nephew and the second son of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia.
Photo: Raphael Stecksén / Courtesy of The Royal Court, Sweden
Monaco's royal family
December is much more than Christmas for Monaco's Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene. Their children, three-year-old twins Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, also call December their birthday month. Celebrations lasted for a couple of weekends making Christmas a doubly festive occasion for this royal family.
The Belgian royal family
Aside from enjoying a feast that potentially had lots of Belgian chocolate-infused dishes during the holidays, King Filip and Queen Mathilde made time to attend the annual Christmas concert at the Royal Palace in Brussels.
The Danish royal family
Unlike most royal families that spend the holidays in their respective countries, the Danish royal family have opted to go to Australia to spend Christmas with Crown Princess Mary’s family. But before leaving for the Land Down Under, these royals gladly showed the family effort in putting up and decorating their gigantic Christmas tree via social media. And this time, Australian-inspired decor, like a miniature kangaroo, and handmade trinkets by the little ones in the family adorned the tree.
The Norwegian royal family
Up in Norway, King Harald, Queen Sonja, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Crown Prince Haakon, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, and Prince Sverre Magnus opted for low-key festivities and just had a Christmas service at Holmenkollen Chapel and Christmas family meals lined up for them. Like many of us from around the world, this family seemed to be more than happy to spend time with their loved ones in the comfort of their own homes.
The Jordanian royal family
Christmas marks an important milestone for Al Hussein Bin Abdullah II, Jordan's heir to the throne. The young royal graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst's Sovereign's Parade earlier this year, and the family has opted to honor this achievement by changing things up when it came to the royal family's Christmas card. Rather than going for a family photo, the card showed three photos of the family's members that have graduated from the prestigious military school side by side: the late King Hussein bin Talal, ruling King Abdullah II, and Crown Prince Al Hussein Bin Abdullah II.
Photo: From HELLOmagazine.com
Lead photo via The Cut Instagram
