The Royal Family Christmas Tradition Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Still Observe

The Royal Family Christmas Tradition Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Still Observe


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Though Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have celebrated Christmas in California for the past few years, they are still embracing royal family holiday traditions in Montecito.

The Duke of Sussex shared insights into his family's Christmas celebrations in his memoir, Spare. Writing about Christmas 2020, Prince Harry reminisces, “It was Christmas Eve. We FaceTimed with several friends, including a few in Britain. We watched Archie running around the tree. And we opened presents. Keeping to the Windsor family tradition.”


Spare

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The Windsors exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, “a German tradition that survived the anglicizing of the family surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor,” Harry writes. Recalling one Christmas Eve at Sandringham, Harry sets the scene: “We were at Sandringham in a big room with a long table covered with white cloth and white name cards. By custom, at the start of the night, each of us located our place, stood before our mound of presents. Then suddenly, everyone began opening at the same time. A free-for-all, with scores of family members talking at once and pulling at bows and tearing at wrapping paper.”

Harry and Meghan's Christmas in California seems a bit less formal than the black tie affair at Sandringham. “I love the holidays,” the Duchess of Sussex revealed recently while hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for Afghan refugee women, adding that Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet are now “three and five, so every year it gets better.” She continued, “at first, I think as a mom with children you’re just enjoying having them there, but they’re not understanding everything that’s happening yet. But now we’re at the age where I just can’t wait to see it through their lens every year.”

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