Kate Middleton and no to Prince William to spend their first Christmas together at Sandringham

For the British royal family there is only one place to celebrate Christmas: Sandringham. In the beautiful Norfolk estate, all its members gather during the holidays but, on some occasions, the invitations are also extended to people outside this restricted circle. Exactly as happened, in 2006, to Kate Middleton, Prince William’s girlfriend at the time. The couple had already been together for four years, when the eldest son of Carlo and Diana, shortly before his diploma at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurstdecided to officially invite his girlfriend to join his family for Christmas. The answer she received was a resounding no.

TO explain the reason for this decision is Tina Brown who, in her book The Palace Paper, tells how the future princess of Wales had decided to decline the invitation because she had not yet received a real marriage proposal. «Kate – he explained – would never have participated in such an important event for the royal family, if not with a ring on her finger to demonstrate William’s commitment to building a future together. The decision was accepted by the prince in silence without arguing». Therefore, that year William spent a few days in Sandringham, as per tradition, while Kate, together with all the other Middletons, went to Scotland, in Perthshire, in a house rented for the occasion.

Since that refusal, a full five years have passed because Kate Middleton’s first Christmas at Sandringham dates back to 2011exactly eight months after her wedding to Prince William. In 2007, in fact, the couple broke up for a while, going their separate ways, until they reconciled some time later. The official engagement came only in 2010 and the wedding the following year. As a newly wed, therefore, iThe Princess’ Sandringham debut was even more charged with significance and there certainly wasn’t a lack of tension in having to spend Christmas with the Queen and all the rest of the family. Among the first obstacles to overcome was the choice of a gift for Elizabeth II: «I thought: “What on earth can I give her?” Then I decided that I would prepare something for her, even though I was afraid that she would go very badly », Kate said in 2016 during an interview. Finally, the choice fell on the traditional Middleton chutney, prepared following his grandmother’s recipe. A much appreciated choice because, as remembered by the princess, the day after her arrival it was served to all the diners together with the other dishes. «It was a very important gesture for me – Middleton said again – which showed his concern for me. Since then, he has done it on many other occasions ».

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