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In yet another sign the Royal Family are loosening up on their age-old traditions, The Queen has given the green light for Meghan Markle to attend her annual Christmas family festivities – a privilege usually not privy to those not married into the Royals. (The same tradition blocked Kate Middleton from enjoying the three-day affair at Sandringham in Norfolk until she wed Prince William).
The Sun is reporting Royal experts are predicting the American actress will take a seat at the Royal dining table as her family reside in the U.S.. As Markle will be in the U.K. at Christmas time, Prince Harry – with whom she is marrying in a televised wedding in May 2018 – wouldn’t want to leave her alone on the holiday. One source told The Express that while “the monarchy relies heavily on precedent and tradition… it also makes its own.”
Prince Harry and Markle are expected to arrive Christmas Eve. Here, they are reportedly greeted with a timetable of events and will be shown to their rooms before allegedly joining The Queen for tea in one of the “drawing rooms.” Christmas presents are exchanged that night and are usually funny presents in lieu of materialists buys. The next morning, everyone gathers for a church service at Sandringham Parish church before returning to the house for a big Christmas feast. The couple are then presumed to be flying to the U.S. on Boxing Day to spend the New year with Markle’s mother, Doria.
It’s not the first time Markle has reasoned with the monarchy. For the newly-engaged couple’s official photo, Markle appeared bare-legged, the tradition being stockings must always be worn. The 36-year-old and Prince Harry have also been very affectionate in public, something Royal watchers say comes from the ease of not being in line to the throne. And of course, too, there was conversation around Markle’s bi-racial nationality and if this did indeed affect her eligibility to marry into the Royals, something the Prince shut down early on as unnecessary noise.
“[The Prince’s] girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment,” a statement from Prince Harry’s communication secretary read to the press in 2017. “Some of this has been very public – the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm.”
The couple also approved a bloopers reel from their very first interview. Very un-Royal-like but oh-so-endearing.
