Features

The Christmas story begins, of course, with a baby and there’s something about a Christmas birthday that makes it all the more interesting, even if mean relatives do double up on presents. Some of the most intriguing royal stories of all have begun on Christmas Eve, leading to lives filled with romance, tragedy and drama. King John of England Let’s start with the birth of a king.

The traditions of a royal Christmas have developed over the centuries and the celebrations of past monarchs seem as strange to us today as our own festivities might seem to them. The royal Christmas has taken many shapes over the centuries – here we look at some of the most intriguing regal celebrations. [getty src=”1003422478″ width=”594″ height=”389&#8243…

While modern royal Christmas celebrations take place at Sandringham, for hundreds of years it was Windsor Castle that was the preferred setting for the festive celebrations of kings and queens. Victoria and Albert loved to spend the season there but they were only following the pattern of dozens of monarchs. Whilst the German Christmas was much popularised by Prince Albert, the preference…