A decade on from her initial encounter with Prince William and just eight months post their nuptials, Kate Middleton was formally inducted into a cherished yuletide ritual as she joined the Royal family for Christmas at Sandringham. The annual gathering at the Sandringham Estate boasted time-honoured festivities, including the customary Christmas Day church service and a sumptuous feast, capped off with an array of party games to sustain the festive spirit.
However, looming large in Kate’s thoughts was the daunting task of selecting a suitable Christmas gift for Queen Elizabeth. As the then Duchess of Cambridge, Kate pondered deeply over the perfect present for the monarch, ultimately deciding that a heartfelt offering would be most appropriate.
During the 2016 ITV documentary ‘Our Queen at Ninety’, commemorating the late Queen’s 90th birthday, Kate shared: “I can remember being at Sandringham for the first time at Christmas. And I was worried what to give the Queen as her Christmas present. I was thinking, ‘Gosh, what should I give her?'”
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Ultimately, the now 42 year old chose to present the Queen with a jar of homemade chutney, drawing inspiration from a treasured recipe of her grandparents, reports the Mirror.
“I thought, ‘I’ll make her something,'” Kate shared. “Which could have gone horribly wrong. But I decided to make my granny’s recipe of chutney. I was slightly worried about it, but I noticed the next day that it was on the table. I think such a simple gesture went such a long way for me, and I’ve noticed since she’s done that on lots of occasions, and I think it just shows her thoughtfulness, really, and her care in looking after everybody,” Kate concluded.
Despite the option to keep the recipe under wraps, Pippa Middleton, Kate’s younger sister, chose to share the recipe in 2012 in her cookbook, Celebrate. The recipe, which had received the Queen’s approval, involves simmering 4 lbs of courgette with a mix of raisins, onions, brown sugar, malt vinegar and other seasonings for two hours. Although 2011 marked Kate’s first attendance at the Royal Christmas Day celebration, it wasn’t her first invitation.
The Queen had previously invited the Princess when she was dating Prince William five years earlier, but she politely declined. However, over the years that followed, she developed a close, grandmotherly bond with the late Queen, which lasted until Queen Elizabeth passed away in 2022.