The Princess of Wales Shares Details About Her Christmas Morning, Noting She Had “Quite an Early Start”

(Image credit: Getty)

published 26 December 2022

The Princess of Wales cut an impressive figure yesterday during the royal family’s traditional Christmas Day walk to St. Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham, clad in an olive-green Alexander McQueen coat, brown suede boots, and a wide-brimmed fedora. (She was also apparently wearing £100 earrings from French brand Sezane that were a Christmas gift from her husband, Prince William.)

As she greeted well-wishers lining the route’s path, she let us in on a glimpse of her Christmas morning at the Norfolk estate, including that children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—all of whom joined her and William for the walk to church, including Louis for the first time—had her up early, and that the trio got “lots of lovely things.” (William, for his part, joked that the kids “had enough presents.”)

Kate spoke to a young girl named India, who gave the Princess flowers—which Kate sweetly thanked her for. Kate asked India “Have you had a nice morning?” to which India replied “Yes, have you?” The Princess then responded “I’ve had a lovely morning, thank you very much. I had quite an early start this morning.” Another well-wisher jumped into the conversation and asked, “Did the children get lots of nice things?” to which Kate replied “They got lots of lovely things” before walking on to other well-wishers.

A woman named Hilary similarly asked William “if Father Christmas had been for the children, and he smiled back and said, ‘They’ve had enough presents.’”

George, Charlotte, and Louis took cues from their parents and also spoke to well-wishers and received presents from those gathered to catch a glimpse of the royal family, who came out en masse to take part in the walk. (Almost every member of the royal family was spotted, save for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who opted to remain in the U.S. for Christmas, and Princess Anne, who was ill with a cold.) According to The Daily Mail, of his debut Christmas walk, “Louis seemed to enjoy the attention, getting so caught up in it he was at one stage forced to run to catch up with his big sister Charlotte.”

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.