Prince William and Kate Middleton are regular attendees of the Royal Family’s Christmas Day church walk.
However, before their marriage, tradition dictated they couldn’t spend the festive season together at Sandringham – so in the years before their wedding, they always spent December 25 apart.
Back in 2006, after several years of dating since their meeting at St Andrews University, they spent Christmas separately but reportedly planned to reunite for New Year celebrations, the Mirror reports.
However, according to a royal book, Kate was left distraught when Prince William cancelled his plans at the last minute – leaving her worried about the future of their relationship.
In her 2011 book, The Making of a Royal Romance, royal author Katie Nicholl alleges that William had promised Kate he would join her family but chose to stay with his own instead – and informed her over the phone on Boxing Day.
Katie writes: “William had been having second thoughts and sat down with his father and his grandmother to have a frank discussion about his future with Kate. Both advised him not to rush into anything.” Weeks later in 2007, Kate and William briefly split, and sources later claimed the late Queen was disappointed by the breakup.
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However, the separation appeared to be brief as William and Kate were spotted sharing a kiss at an army party in Bovington, Dorset shortly after. In July 2007, Kate and her brother James attended the Concert for Diana at Wembley, marking a decade since the death of Princess Diana, William’s mother.
It wasn’t long before their romance was reignited, with Kate moving into William’s Clarence House flat where he would return from military duties for cosy weekends. The rest, as they say, is history.
The couple announced their engagement in 2010 and tied the knot in April 2011. They’ve been married for nearly 14 years now and have three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
This Christmas season has been particularly significant as Kate continues her recovery from a cancer diagnosis earlier this year. She underwent abdominal surgery before revealing she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.
However, she completed her treatment by the end of summer and has been gradually resuming her duties. It’s unclear what gifts the children, aged 10, eight and five, received this Christmas, but according to Katie, Kate prefers not to spoil her children with lavish tech gifts.
She reportedly favours practical presents to limit their screen time.
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