‘The Queen’s in a terrible state! There’s a  fellow called Jones in the billiard room who says he wants to marry Margaret. And Prince Philip’s in the library trying to change the family name…’ Ten more VERY memorable Royal Christmases down the years…

1956 – PHILIP’S SOLO CHRISTMAS

The Christmas of 1956 was a particularly upsetting one for the late Queen. 

After four years of playing second fiddle to his wife Prince Philip jumped at the chance of undertaking an extended four-month tour of the southern hemisphere on the Royal Yacht Britannia. 

This meant he missed his wedding anniversary (though he did send her some white roses and a photo of two iguanas appearing to embrace), Charles’s 8th birthday and the festive season. 

Rumours of a royal rift escalated and when the couple were reunited in Portugal it was before the world’s press. 

Philip, wore a tie with a pattern of hearts on and was said to be ‘terribly hurt and very angry’ about the situation.’

1957 – A TRAUMATIC BROADCAST

In 1957 the Queen decided to her Christmas speech should be televised for the first time. 

Once again it was a live broadcast. 

The Eastern Electricity Board had to dig up the lawns at Sandringham to lay cables to run a power supply into the house. 

The Queen later recalled electricians drilling holes through the walls to let the cables in as well as icy blasts of air which made her shiver more than her nerves did. 

To her amusement, make-up girls had to paint huge yellow spots on her forehead, cheeks, and chin to tone down the shine on her skin as well as having to darken the parting in her hair as it would have looked like a thick white line across her head. 

Ironically, the theme of the broadcast was ‘I welcome you to the peace of my own home.’

1959 – MARGARET PUTS THE CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS

The Queen was heavily pregnant with Prince Andrew when the family gathered at Sandringham for the last Christmas of the Fifties. 

She was concerned about two issues. 

Firstly, she wanted to honour Philip by declaring that their descendants would have the surname Mountbatten Windsor. 

This upset traditionalists led by the Queen Mother and the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Secondly her sister Princess Margaret had told her that she wanted to marry society photographer Antony Armstrong Jones which was another shock to the establishment. 

When the PM arrived at Norfolk to see the Queen he was met by her red-faced uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, who declared: ‘Thank heavens you’ve come, Prime Minister. 

The Queen is in a terrible state. There’s a fellow called Jones in the billiard room says he wants to marry her sister, and Prince Philip’s in the library wanting to change the family name to Mountbatten.’ 

The princess was given permission to marry but had to wait until the birth of Andrew on 19 February before she could announce her engagement.

 1969 THE QUEEN IS A NO SHOW AT CHRISTMAS

In October 1969 it was announced that the Queen would not make a Christmas broadcast – the time in her 70-year reign that she didn’t make the speech, replacing it with a written message. Prince Philip thought it was getting stale and told a press conference ‘we thought we’d take this year off and scratch our heads and see whether we can do something better. When it returned in 1970 it included photos and film footage of the royals, making for a less formal programme.

1992 – THE ‘ANNUS HORRIBILIS’ CHRISTMAS

The Queen described 1992 as her ‘annus horribilis’.

It saw the marriages of Charles and Diana and Andrew and Fergie end in separation as well as the disastrous fire at Windsor Castle. 

The country waited with bated breath to hear what the Queen would say in her broadcast. 

They didn’t have too long to wait since The Sun newspaper obtained a leak copy of the pre-recorded speech and splashed the transcript word for word across its middle pages.

 The Queen instructed her solicitors, Farrer & Co to threaten the newspaper with legal action. 

In the end £200,000 was paid to one of her charities in an out-of-court settlement.

1997 – CHRISTMAS WITHOUT DIANA

Christmas Day 1997, the first without their mother, was bound to be traumatic for princes William and Harry.

They attended church at Sandringham as usual, with Harry staying close to his father’s side and William next to his cousin Peter Phillips as they walked past a crowd of 1000 onlookers.

Canon George Hall said to the congregation: ‘We thank God for Diana, Princess of Wales, and for all our loved ones who have departed this life.’

In her Christmas broadcast the Queen added ‘we all felt the shock and sorrow of Diana’s death.’

2007 – HARRY’S CHRISTMAS FIGHTING THE ENEMY

Prince Harry spent Christmas 2007 fighting in Afghanistan. 

He woke up on Christmas Day on a camp bed in a former Taliban religious school, its walls peppered with bullet-holes following a night in which the temperature had fallen to -8 degrees. 

The only washing facilities were icy water outside in a bucket. 

Instead of the specially reared Norfolk turkey his relations were tucking into at Sandringham the prince had a scrawny chicken, freshly slaughtered by Gurkha soldiers with their fearsome daggers. 

Harry had volunteered to serve at Christmas: ‘I was hoping to come down here for Christmas Day to be with the Gurkhas,’ the Prince explained. 

‘I don’t know why, it was just something I wanted to do, just to be with them.’

 This year, having missed the Christmas post, the Prince had no presents sent to him.

‘I got nothing for Christmas, most of these guys got nothing for Christmas,’ he said, although, like his fellow soldiers, he did benefit from anonymous parcels sent to all British troops by well-wishers at home.

 2011 – PRINCE PHILIP’S HEART OP

On Friday 23rd December 2011, 90-year-old Prince Philip collapsed with chest pains at Sandringham. 

A helicopter was scrambled for him to be flown to Papworth Hospital, Huntingdon, where he underwent an emergency angioplasty to have a stent fitted in an artery to relieve a blockage.

The following day the Queen and four of her children took a helicopter flight to the hospital to see the Duke and on Christmas Day his six older grandchildren spent the day with him. 

He was well enough to eat a Christmas Dinner, and he was driven back to Sandringham on the 27th. 

Meanwhile a crowd estimated at 3,000 people – three times the normal size – gathered to show support for the Queen as she arrived at church on the royal estate.

2016 – WILLIAM AND KATE ENJOY A MIDDLE CLASS CHRISTMAS

William and Kate broke with royal tradition by spending the festive season with the Middleton family at their Bucklebury home. 

It was the second time they had missed a Sandringham Christmas. 

The last was in 2012 when Kate had recently been hospitalised with severe morning sickness. One theory is that they were putting their small children first. 

At Sandringham royal toddlers and babies eat separately from the adults and are not permitted to go to church. 

This year three-and-a-half-year-old George and 20-month-old Charlotte attended the Christmas Day service at the local church and were very much part of the lunch party at the more relaxed Middleton home.

2021 – THE FAMILY GATHER TO SUPPORT THE QUEEN

The Queen’s final Christmas was spent at Windsor Castle.

 The 95-year-old monarch was growing increasingly frail and very much missed her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, who had passed away the previous April. 

She was joined by three of her children Charles, Andrew and Edward as well as daughters in law Camilla and Sophie and grandchildren Beatrice Eugenie and five great grandchildren. 

William and Kate were at Anmer Hall in Norfolk for Christmas with Kate’s family and the Sussexes were in California. 

Sadly, Princess Anne was unable to attend the gathering as her husband, Tim Laurence had tested positive for Covid-19. 

In what would be her last, and most poignant Christmas broadcast, the Queen referred to ‘the death of my beloved Philip’ and how ‘that mischievous, enquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when I first set eyes on him.’