How King Charles Celebrated His 1st Christmas Without Queen Elizabeth—He Felt Her ‘Absence at Every Familiar Turn’
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As his first holiday as King, many royal family fans are wondering how did Charles celebrate Christmas 2022?
Moments after the Queen’s death on September 8, 2022, Charles was proclaimed King. Due to royal tradition, days later on September 10, 2022, the Privy Council declared him the sovereign. The clerk of the council said, “Charles III, by the grace of god of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of his other realms and territory, King, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith, to whom we do acknowledge all faith and obedience with humble affection, beseeching god by whom kings and queens do reign to bless his majesty with long and happy years to reign over us. God Save the King.” Since his proclamation, the King has fulfilled his duties as monarch and planning the big Christmas day is a big new responsibility.
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The holiday season can be challenging for those who’ve lost loved ones, so here’s how King Charles celebrated his first Christmas without his mother Queen Elizabeth II.
How did King Charles celebrate Christmas 2022?
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How did King Charles celebrate Christmas? King Charles III continued the tradition of the British monarchy giving a special Christmas broadcast on December 25, 2022. To commence, he began with a note to honor his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away at age 96. This was therefore the first Christmas the royal family spent without her and in a pre-recorded address from Windsor Castle, he spoke fondly of his mother.
“I am standing here in this exquisite Chapel of St. George at Windsor Castle, so close to where my beloved mother, the late Queen, is laid to rest with my dear father,” the king said. “I am reminded of the deeply touching letters, cards and messages which so many of you have sent my wife and myself and I cannot thank you enough for the love and sympathy you have shown our whole family.” He continued, “Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones. We feel their absence at every familiar turn of the season and remember them in each cherished tradition.”
“In the much-loved carol ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem,’ we sing of how ‘in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light.’ My mother’s belief in the power of that light was an essential part of her faith in God, but also her faith in people—and it is one which I share with my whole heart. It is a belief in the extraordinary ability of each person to touch, with goodness and compassion, the lives of others, and to shine a light in the world around them. This is the essence of our community and the very foundation of our society.”
The first-ever royal Christmas speech was delivered by King George V in 1932. Queen Elizabeth, who was coronated in June 1953, appeared in the first televised broadcast in 1957 and every year since. According to People, the pressure was on King Charles this year to “get it right.” “This first year, he will feel the pressure to get it right. Every nuance will be picked over,” a former palace staffer told the outlet. They added, “[The Queen] was a one-take wonder—she was extraordinary.”
Like his plans for his coronation, Charles wants to break some royal traditions, in favor of some new ones. According to the source, he is “equally determined to bring in some new more modern traditions and implementations of his own as the family moves forward into a new era.” The source also said that Prince William and Princess Kate and their children as children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4, are also on board with the plans.
“[Charles] has reached out more than the queen did,” Vernon Bogdanor, a professor of government at King’s College London and an authority on the constitutional monarchy, observed to the New York Times. “She would not allow people to touch her,” noting that the day after his mother’s passing, Charles left his car to shake hands with mourners who had gathered outside Buckingham Palace.
Charles and Queen Consort, Camilla Parker Bowles, greeted crowds outside St Mary Magdalene Church, where the Christmas Day service was held. They were joined by William and Kate Middleton, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their children as well as other senior members of the Royal Family. It was the first time the family gathered at Sandringham House since 2019. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, were not present.
Most surprisingly, Prince Andrew was present at the chapel and greeted a freezing crowd outside the church. It was a rare public appearance from the disgraced royal. He was excommunicated from royal life and duties in the wake of the Virginia Roberts Giuffre scandal in January 2022, due to his connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
With the release of Meghan and Harry’s Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, the holidays would surely be awkward for the royal family. A source told Us Weekly on December 7, 2022, that Charles was “concerned” at the “damage” Harry and Meghan’s documentary could cause their relationship with the British royal family. “The docuseries has left a bad taste in Charles’ mouth,” the insider said. “He’s more worried about it than anyone.” The source explained that Charles does not want to deal with “drama” after he took over the throne from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. “While he’s putting on a brave face, behind closed doors he’s concerned that the docuseries will cause irreparable damage to the Monarchy,” the insider said. “It’s hard for a lot of people inside The Firm to imagine how the Sussexes come back into the fold from here.”
According to several royal sources who talked to The Mirror UK, the Royal Family was trying to push back what Meghan and Harry said in their documentary. “There is a completely united front from the King and his family concerning the numerous attempts to privately make peace with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, which sadly have once again resulted in the other side wishing to air their repeated grievances to the world.” The anonymous insider continued, “If there is a need to respond to anything in the upcoming series then you can be assured that response will be swift and robust.” The site also said that royal insiders called the Sussexes “The Kardashians” because “they want all the attention they can possibly get.”
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