This Christmas marks the first one since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and her family is bracing for the emotions that the holiday will bring. King Charles III will “undoubtedly pay tribute to the queen in his speech and privately within the family,” reports Us Weekly. Though the holiday will be “bittersweet,” Us Weekly reports that the family knows that Queen Elizabeth “would not want them to mope or let [her death] detract everyone from coming together and enjoying the occasion.”
This enjoyment will come with “some new, more modern traditions,” reports Us Weekly. King Charles, 74, wants to mark his rule as his own, and his son, Prince William, and wife, Kate Middleton – along with their children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and 4-year-old Prince Louis – are “extremely key to that plan,” according to the publication.
However, this means that Queen Elizabeth isn’t completely forgotten. The royal family will honor the late British ruler, who died at age 96 in September. They will “share fond memories, raise glasses and likely make speeches about the wonderful life and legacy she’s left behind,” reports Us Weekly. “There’s a shared commitment among the whole family to stay true to her values and carry on with the wonderful work she did during her time as monarch.”
King Charles has extended an invite to his brother, Prince Andrew, and sister-in-law, Sarah Ferguson, according to Us Weekly. This will “be the first time [Fergie] has been included” since she and Andrew divorced in 1996. Andrew will likely avoid any public affairs like the royal walk since he’s ten months removed from settling an alleged sex scandal, per Us Weekly. Andrew’s involvement in the holiday is “peripheral now for reasons everyone well knows, and that’s how it will stay, barring some type of miracle.”
Similarly, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are not expected to attend. The recent Harry & Meghan docuseries has reportedly stirred up tensions between Harry and his family. “They were happy to lie to protect my brother [Prince William], but they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us,” Prince Harry says in the trailer for the second part of the docuseries. “I wasn’t being thrown to the wolves, I was being fed to the wolves,” Meghan says.
