Queen Camilla and King Charles walk to church in Sandringham on Dec. 25, 2024.Photo:Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty
Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty
King CharlesandQueen Camillaled the royal family’s annual Christmas walk for the third year after an especially difficult 2024 that saw both the King, 76, andKate Middletondiagnosed with cancer.
Queen Camilla and King Charles lead the royal family’s walk to church in Sandringham on Dec. 25, 2024.Victoria Jones/Shutterstock
Victoria Jones/Shutterstock
Charles publicly announced his diagnosis on Feb. 5, and Kate, 42, released a video message on March 22announcing her own diagnosis. The types and stages of their respective cancers have not been made public, though the palace did confirm that the King’s cancer was not prostate cancer, following his January procedure for a benign enlarged prostate.
On Sept. 9, the Princess of Wales announced that herchemotherapy treatment had ended, while the King’s cancer treatment is ongoing.
“His treatment has been moving in a positive direction and as a managed condition the treatment cycle will continue into next year,” palace sources confirmed on Dec. 20.
King Charles showed his sense of humor during hisfinal royal engagement before Christmas on Dec. 19, joking, “I’m still alive” when asked how he was doing.
The outing comes a few weeks after Camilla was forced to miss several planned royal engagements due to an ongoing chest infection that she later revealed was a form of pneumonia.
Kate Middleton, Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, Prince William and Prince George walk to church in Sandringham on Dec. 25, 2024.OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty
OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty
Absent from the annual occasion was the King’s younger son,Prince Harry, and his wifeMeghan Markle, who were not invited to the family gathering and are thought to be celebrating the holiday in the U.S. with their childrenPrince ArchieandPrincess Lilibet.
Princess Beatrice, her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and his son Christopher Woolf, 8, joined the royals for the walk to church on Christmas. The couple’s daughter Sienna, 3, wasn’t spotted.
Christopher Woolf, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Princess Beatrice walk to church at Sandringham on Dec. 25, 2024.OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty
A new addition to Christmas at Sandringham is expected to be Camilla’s sonTom Parker Bowles, who said earlier this month, “My mum said, “I’d love you to come. I haven’t had Christmas with you for a long time.’ ”
“I genuinely know nothing about it,” he said of Christmas at Sandringham. “But I know there’s a turkey and sprouts and church. And I have to bring a suit and a dinner jacket.”
Earlier this month, Prince William shared rare details about the royal family’s Christmas plans during a visit with soldiers and their families in Bulford, Wiltshire on Dec. 10, revealing “We’ll be in Norfolk, at Sandringham. We’ll be 45 for Christmas. It won’t be quiet, it will be noisy.”
The annual Sandringham gathering on Christmas Eve includes the traditional exchange of inexpensive gag gifts on Dec. 24 and the procession on Dec. 25 from Sandringham House to St. Mary Magdalene Church on the estate. After greeting the public, they’ll return to Sandringham for a Christmas lunch that includes a traditional feast of turkey, glazed ham, roasted potatoes, parsnips, Brussels sprouts and Christmas pudding, after which they will view the King’s annual Christmas speech, which airs at 3 p.m. U.K. time each year.
Lady Louise Windsor, James Wessex, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Prince Edward, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence and more royals walk to church at Sandringham on Dec. 25, 2024.Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty
“Charles has always beenvery, very fond of Sandringham,” royal biographer Ingrid Seward previously told PEOPLE. “Christmas within any family is always about tradition. He will keep it the same as it ever was.”
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“I have strong memories of walking down here, and my grandfather [Prince Philip], he used to walk so fast that there’d be huge gaps and spaces between all of us walking down, and there’d be us at the back with little legs trying to keep up,” William continued. “You know, I think over time you start to feel quite attached to those moments and those memories before.”
source: people.com