How long has the Royal Family been going to Sandringham at Christmas? Not as long as you might imagine. Here’s who started the Christmas tradition – and why it moved to Norfolk.
How long has the Royal Family been going to Sandringham at Christmas?
It’s customary for the Royal Family to gather at Sandringham for Christmas in what we might think of as a longstanding tradition – but it’s not actually been the case for that long. The Norfolk estate has only been used as the seasonal meeting place for the family since 1988, when Queen Elizabeth II first moved the family’s Christmas gathering there due to refurbishment work at Windsor Castle.
But this is a more established tradition if you look further back in the Royal Family’s history. When the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII (the great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II), took ownership of the Sandringham estate, he established a royal gathering in Norfolk for Christmas. But this tradition fell away during Queen Victoria’s reign, as she preferred to spend the festive period at Windsor Castle.
Queen Elizabeth II continued celebrating Christmas at Windsor Castle, but this changed in 1988, when Windsor Castle was being rewired after a fire had caused extensive damage to the building. Since then, Sandringham House has played host to the Royal Family’s Christmas – a tradition King Charles III has so far continued.
What do the Royal Family do at Christmas at Sandringham?
Each year, the Royal Family attend the Christmas Day church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham.
Queen Elizabeth II’s Christmas messages to the nation and the Commonwealth were often recorded at Sandringham. She would often travel by train – in a reserved carriage on a public train – to King’s Lynn in Norfolk in mid-December, before being taken to Sandringham in a car.
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The format of the Royal Family’s Christmas was fairly consistent during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, meeting for afternoon tea on Christmas Eve and exchanging gifts in the German tradition of Heiligabend Bescherung. Darren McGrady, personal chef to Queen Elizabeth, said that afternoon tea usually consisted of ginger cake or honey and cream sponge, an array of small cakes and scones, Earl Grey tea, and square sandwiches, served without crusts and with ham and English mustard, Sage Derby cheese and Branston pickle or Coronation chicken.
On Christmas Day, the family went to church and returned home for pre-lunch drinks and nuts. The traditional Christmas lunch was as expected – turkey with mashed and roast potatoes, chestnut or sage and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce, bread sauce, Brussels sprouts, carrots and roast parsnips. This was followed by Christmas pudding, served with brandy butter and brandy sauce, and then a cheese course served with port.
After sitting down to watch the Queen’s Christmas TV address, afternoon cake was served: Christmas cake, chocolate yule log, mince pies with brandy butter, scones and sandwiches. Dinner of traditional English food was served in the evening, often consisting of meat or fish. A Boxing Day shoot on the Sandringham estate remains a feature of the Royal Family’s Christmas.
