Charles gives a speech. With Andrew, without Harry – The Royal Family celebrates Christmas.

For the first time in three years, the royal family attended Christmas service at Sandringham together. When singing together, King Charles and company show their unity and celebrate the Queen. But all is not peaceful behind the scenes.

With Prince Andrew scandalized but without estranged Prince Harry, the royal family celebrated their first Christmas without the Queen. With King Charles III. At the helm, the royals returned to a traditional service near their Sandringham residence in eastern England for the first time since the pandemic on Boxing Day. Prince Louis, 4, the youngest son of heir to the throne Prince William and Princess Kate, wore shorts when the temperatures were very mild. Many spectators waited hours to catch a glimpse of the royals.

For the royal family, Christmas was all about Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8 after 70 years on the throne. Charles commemorated his “beloved mother” in his first Christmas speech as king. He shares Queen’s belief in people who can touch the lives of others with kindness and compassion. Charles said of the Queen’s portraits that this is “the essence of our society, the foundation of our society”.

Charles Shukran for a “selfless commitment”

But he paid special attention to helpers in need. Charles also expressly thanked staff in health and social services as well as teachers and all employees in the public sector for their “dedicated commitment”. Particularly in these sectors, there is currently dissatisfaction with low wage increases, and there are always strikes. The king’s words were accompanied, among other things, by images of food banks – too many people in Great Britain are suffering from soaring food and energy prices.

His daughter-in-law Kate had previously dedicated a Christmas Carol to the Queen at Westminster Abbey in London, which she had staged and was televised on Christmas Eve. She praised the Queen’s “amazing legacy” which has “profoundly inspired so many of us”. Kate and William’s sons Prince George, 9, and Princess Charlotte, 7, sang out loud.

Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, were among the 1,800 guests at the event. Crown Prince William read an excerpt from the Queen’s message at Christmas 2012.

solid fronts

The British media emphasized above all the joint appearances of the members of the royal family. In doing so, they will be marking unity against allegations made by William’s younger brother Harry and his wife, Duchess Meghan, on the Netflix series “Harry and Meghan”. The second part of the series was published on 15 December, Kate’s Christmas Carols Day.

The fronts between Harry and Meghan, who live in California with their children Archie and Lilibet, and the family in England are solid. The couple has repeatedly accused the minors of a lack of support and even racism. In his first speech as king, Charles declared his love for the two. But in light of the Netflix series and the Jan. 10 release of the autobiography Harry, alienation has increased, she reported in London. Harry declines an invitation to celebrate Christmas together in England.

Andrew is on duty

Among those attending the service at Sandringham were Charles’ two brothers, including Prince Andrew, who was embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal. He appeared with his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and their husbands. As The Sun recently reported, Andrew is in an increasingly difficult position in the royal family, with Charles kicking the 62-year-old out of Buckingham Palace, the paper wrote. Andrew was no longer permitted to use an office there and was no longer permitted to use the City Palace as a correspondence address. “Any presence in the palace has officially ended,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

After a feast, the royals wanted to see Charles’s first Christmas speech together in the afternoon, which the king had recorded almost two weeks earlier. The tradition was started in 1932 by King George V’s grandfather to Charles. This was the first time King had given a televised Christmas speech. In 1957, Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s mother, was the first monarch to address the population on television at Christmas. Unlike the British, the royals did not give presents on Christmas morning. The gift is traditionally given on Christmas Eve – this is due to the family’s German roots.

By Benedict von Imhoff dpa