King Charles III will spend Christmas with Prince William and Princess Kate during a celebration steeped in tradition, but also in the wake of recent scandal.
Recent years have seen Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's broadsides against the monarchy provide an unwanted backdrop to royal celebrations, but this year it is Prince Andrew who has been generating headlines.
Charles and Kate will also look back on a year in which ill health has dominated, perhaps reminiscing about how different life was 12 months ago.
Royal Family Christmas Traditions
Charles and Queen Camilla will spend Christmas at Sandringham, the royal family's sprawling estate in Norfolk, as the royals do every year.
William and Kate are expected to join them with their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, though will likely not stay at Sandringham House with other royal guests, preferring Anmer Hall, their country retreat.
"Am I ready for Christmas? No, no way am I ready," William recently told a festive gathering for families of 1st Battalion Mercian Regiment in Wiltshire. "We'll be in Norfolk, at Sandringham. We'll be 45 for Christmas. It won't be quiet, it will be noisy."
They will, however, open their presents a day earlier than most families, in accordance with German tradition because the Windsors have German roots. All will get presents from the king.
Harry—who will celebrate separately in California—gave an insight into how that frenzied gift ceremony played out in past years in his book Spare: "The whole family gathered to open gifts on Christmas Eve, as always, a German tradition that survived the anglicizing of the family surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.
"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."
Traditionally the royals go for cheap joke presents, with Queen Elizabeth II reportedly loving a singing fish toy one year, though on another year Prince Harry was less impressed with Princess Margaret's present of a Biro pen.
On Christmas morning, the family will go to St Mary Magdalene church, in Sandringham, where they have been worshipping since the days of Queen Victoria.
Royal watchers will line the path offering flowers, which are usually collected by the children, including George, Charlotte and Louis.
They will then have Christmas dinner together and in the afternoon the king's Christmas speech is broadcast to homes around the country, though it is filmed some weeks in advance.
And they gather for the annual Boxing Day hunt on December 26, when they shoot grouse on the 20,000-acre estate.
Charles and Kate's 2024 Cancer Treatments
Life for the most senior royals has changed dramatically over the past 12 months, with Kate and Charles both having cancer treatment.
The king's issue remain ongoing though doctors consider him strong enough that he had an overseas tour of Australia and Samoa in the fall, with more planned for next year.
Kate, meanwhile, had chemotherapy straight on the back of major surgery in January. While she had finished her course of the treatment by September, she is still not considered to be back to full strength.
The Princess of Wales is yet to return to full time work, though William recently hinted fans may see more of her in 2025.
Either way, there may be much for the royals to reminisce about as they look back on a year that turned the monarchy upside down, at one stage briefly leaving Camilla as the only top tier working royal, supported by Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh.
Prince Andrew's New Royal Scandal
Recent Christmases have frequently had a cloud hanging over them, in 2023 it was the aftermath of Omid Scobie's book Endgame that named Charles as the royal who commented on Prince Archie's skin tone before he was born.
In 2022, Netflix series Harry & Meghan had just aired complete with a new broadside against the royals and Harry's memoir Spare was just around the corner.
In 2024, though, Prince Andrew has been back in the headlines after becoming close confidantes with an alleged Chinese spy.
Rumors had been circulating in the British press that he might gate crash various royal celebrations despite a PR crisis over his close relationship with Yang Tengbo.
Initial reports suggested he would willingly step back before further claims surfaced that he would turn up at the royal family's pre-Christmas dinner at Buckingham Palace, on Wednesday last week, irrespective of whether he was welcome or not.
It is likely he will skip the walk to church on Christmas Day and may steer clear of Sandringham altogether, preferring to celebrate in Windsor with his own family.
The move would, though, make a change to previous years, which have seen the Duke of York side-by-side with other royals on the walk to and from church.
Andrew was forced to step back from public life over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and was stripped of honorary titles and patronages after he settled out of court a New York civil case in which he was accused of having sex with a 17-year-old trafficking victim in the early 2000s. He denied the allegations, but paid Virginia Giuffre an undisclosed sum.
He has, though, been allowed to attend private family events, including church services at which news photographers have captured arrivals and departures.
On the back of his latest crisis, though, even that may be more than the king is willing to accept.
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III and Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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