King Charles and Queen Camilla delighted royal watchers on Christmas Day when they walked the short distance from Sandringham House to St Mary Magdalene Church.
The royal couple were joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with their children – Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, six.
Crowds of well wishers looked on as William walked hand in hand with his daughter Charlotte, while Kate dressed in a green coat and hat, smiled at the gathered crowds. Also part of the walking procession were the Prince Royal and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
But despite a bounty of photos being taken of the special festive moment, there will be no selfies appearing on the social media accounts of ‘the Firm’ thanks to a very specific old fashioned Christmas ban that Charles introduced.
Each year, the Firm gathers at their Sandringham estate in Norfolk for the holiday season with King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William, Kate Middleton and their three kids always usually there.
Their traditional Christmas get-together is a special time of year for the family as it allows the elderly generations of the royals to spend some precious time with the youngest members.
Whilst all generations of the family will cherish this, there may have been some differences of opinion on some habits of the younger generation which has seemingly led to the monarch introducing a rogue Christmas ban.
The King has banned the posting of selfies at Christmas, insisting that only carefully-controlled and professionally shot snaps and videos should be shared, as we previously reported.
According to a reliable source, only royals with official social media accounts will be allowed to upload during the festivities and any other photographs or videos will be shot by a professional and approved by the Buckingham Palace communications team first.
The source said: “It’s been made very clear that there will be no mobile phones, photographs or selfies taken at the lunch table this year. Only controlled and approved images will see the light of day from the celebrations.”
The Grinch-like rules have supposedly been brought in for the best interest of senior royals as more than 40 guests descend on the estate this year, including some teenagers.
The insider continued when speaking last year: “There will be a lot of teenagers in attendance this year who are very mobile-friendly. It sounds rather funny, but the truth of the matter is they don’t want a photo of the King trying to squeeze a roast potato into his mouth appearing on social media.
“Not only will there be extended members of the family in attendance but also complete outsiders, so it’s very important to ensure that no unexpected photos or videos appear online.”
Notably absent from this year’s event was the Duke of York, who has faced ongoing scrutiny due to his links to an alleged Chinese spy.
They were reportedly expected to spend Christmas at Royal Lodge, in the home they share in Windsor Great Park, Berkshire.
The members of the Royal Family who walked to the service were greeted at the foot of the steps to the church by the Reverend Canon Dr Paul Rhys Williams.
As they headed inside the national anthem was sung before the first hymn O Come, All Ye Faithful.
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