LONDON — When Britain’s royal family gathers for Christmas dinner, the festive cheer will be closing out a turbulent 2024.
The year has proved challenging for the royals, most notably with dual cancer diagnoses for King Charles III and Kate, the Princess of Wales.
In a nod to that reality, Charles will deliver his annual King’s Speech from a former hospital chapel — a break with tradition.
Christmas is a “really important occasion for the royal family,” Katie Nicholl, Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent, told NBC News, noting that the last time the public saw the family “all out smiling, doing what they love, which is meeting members of the public, was Christmas Day” last year.
The royal family is spending Christmas at Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, on England’s eastern coast. The estate has been among the homes of five generations of British monarchs.
On Christmas Day, they will attend the traditional service at St. Mary Magdalene Church near Sandringham House and take part in a walk where they greet members of the public.
However, much of the rest of their holiday celebration will remain private, capping off a year that Prince William described as “brutal,” following the cancer diagnoses of both his wife and father. “It’s been dreadful. It’s probably been the hardest year of my life,” William told NBC News’ international partner Sky News last month.
Charles and Queen Camilla hosted a pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace last week, but William and his family, as well as Charles’ brother Prince Andrew, were among the notable absences.
William and Kate did not attend, as they were already in Norfolk with their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Andrew’s absence, however, was another “huge blow” to him and the family, said Emily Nash, royal editor at Hello! magazine, in an interview with NBC News last Thursday.
The scandal-plagued prince hit headlines again last week after a British High Court ruling said he had cultivated an “unusual degree of trust” with a man alleged to be a Chinese spy. Andrew’s office said in a statement that he “ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised.”
Andrew had previously been linked to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and in 2021 Virginia Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Andrew accusing him of sexually abusing her on separate occasions in the 1990s, when she was 17.
Andrew has repeatedly denied the allegation. He later paid a substantial sum to settle Giuffre’s lawsuit.
A onetime war hero, Andrew served in Britain’s Royal Navy and flew a number of missions during the 1982 conflict with Argentina over the remote Falkland Islands. He returned his military affiliations and royal patronages in January 2022.
“He has lost any sort of public life and work, and now he’s having to absent himself from private family gatherings,” Nash said. “It’s all about protecting the reputation of the royal family.”
“He’s in the eye of the storm at the moment,” she added.
Last year, Andrew attended a Christmas Day service at Sandringham with the rest of the royal family, so “he has come back in from the cold somewhat in the past, but right now that doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon,” Nash said.
Earlier this month, Kate continued a long-standing tradition by hosting her annual carol service at Westminster Abbey in London. The service was closed to the public, though 1,600 members of the community were invited to attend.
The service was recorded on Dec. 6 and aired by British broadcaster ITV on Christmas Eve.
Nicholl, reflecting on the significance of Kate’s concert, said she brings “not just the nation together on Christmas Eve for her carol concert, but also the royal family, her family. I think it closes [the year] on a note of hope and optimism.”
In January 2024, Kate was hospitalized for nearly two weeks to undergo abdominal surgery for unspecified reasons. Testing revealed she had cancer, and she later disclosed in a rare video statement that she was undergoing chemotherapy, her first public acknowledgment of her health struggles amid widespread speculation.
In September, Kate said she had completed chemotherapy treatment and would return to a light schedule of public engagements through the end of the year.
In February, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Charles, now 76, had been diagnosed with cancer. The statement said he chose to share his diagnosis “in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer.”
He resumed public duties as king in April after progress was made in his treatment. The illness had raised speculation that Charles may even abdicate the throne, a possibility royal experts say is unlikely but highlighted the challenges to his rule.
An investigation published last month by the U.K.’s Sunday Times and Channel 4’s “Dispatches” program uncovered details about about the royal family’s property empires and the tax-free business deals they have struck with taxpayer-funded government institutions to maintain their wealth.
Small antimonarchy protests also greeted Charles during an October trip to Australia, which is set to vote on a referendum on whether to remain a constitutional monarchy. The death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, revived debates among Commonwealth countries about leaving the monarchy, with some planning referendums to vote on whether to remove Charles as head of state.
Meanwhile, Camilla, 77, has also faced health challenges. A chest infection caused her to miss last month’s Remembrance events, which honor British and Commonwealth service members who lost their lives in conflict.
This only added to the uncertainty surrounding the health of the royal family’s senior members this year.
Despite the year’s challenges, it has “brought the royal family so close together, particularly the Princess of Wales and the king,” given their shared experience with cancer, Nicholl said, adding: “I think they’ve never looked tighter as a family.”
However, this closeness within the royal family highlights the divide with Charles’ younger son, Prince Harry.
Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, along with their children, Archie and Lilibet, are not attending Christmas at Sandringham.
Their children have only met their grandfather on “less than a handful of occasions,” Nicholl said. “There is very much a divide,” both physically and metaphorically, between Harry, who lives in California, and the rest of the royal family.
Although Harry has spoken of his hopes for reconciliation, Nicholl noted, “it does seem some way off.”
Harry’s memoir, released at the start of 2023, made headlines for its revelations and allegations. In the spring, Harry officially considered himself a resident of the U.S., according to a U.K. regulatory filing. He and Meghan relocated to California in 2020 after stepping back from royal duties.
“While the door has always remained open for the king,” Nicholl said, “he wants to have a relationship with his son. There is a fundamental issue that there’s been a breakdown of trust here. I think Harry needs to earn that trust back.”
