Royal Family’s weirdest Christmas habits and why Prince Louis eats at separate table

The Royal Family gathers each year at Sandringham for their annual Christmas celebrations – but the Firm has some very particular ways in which they celebrate the festive season that might leave you baffled

Every family has their quirks in the way that they celebrate Christmas – and it appears that the royals are no exception.

Each year, they gather at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk for their traditional celebrations, which include exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve, walking to church on Christmas morning and enjoying a traditional turkey roast dinner with all of the trimmings. However, unlike many families, there is no time for slouching on the sofa and enjoying Christmas movies. And instead there are other traditions they get involved in.

One of them is playing family games, however the late Queen was once forced to step in and limit any family arguments during her tenure. She even banned one board game outright: Monopoly.

This was because things simply became “too vicious” amongst the family whenever they played. Prince Andrew – long understood to be the late Queen’s favourite child – showed how strictly this ban was enforced during an engagement all the way back in 2008 when he visited Leeds Building Society’s HQ.

He was offered the game as a token of his trip, to which he replied: “we are not allowed to play Monopoly at home” and declined to accept it. When your mother is the monarch, it seems that what she says goes.

In another strict and unusual rule that seemingly demonstrates the rigidity of royal protocol, the royal youngsters are banned from joining the adults for their Christmas meal. We aren’t just talking a kid’s table, they eat in a completely different room.

According to former royal chef Darren McGrady, there is a “Victorian” approach to the children’s meals, and he said to Hello Magazine: “The children always ate in the nursery until they were old enough to conduct themselves properly at the dining table,” adding that “for the Queen, there was never a case of putting a high chair at the table”. So the little ones like Prince Louis will likely not be enjoying their Christmas dinner with the senior royals yet.

The royals are also reportedly banned from going to bed before King Charles, so if he decides to stay up late one Christmas, they all have to remain there until he decides to make his exit – another example of the strict hierarchy that the Royal Family is based upon.

One quirky thing that the royals have banned at Christmas shines a light on what they are really like as a family behind closed doors: lavish gifts are strictly forbidden. Instead, the royals gift each other novelty joke presents or something homemade. For instance, Kate reportedly gave the Queen homemade chutney during her first Christmas after her wedding, once she was an official member of the family.

Another strange Sandringham tradition is guests being made to weigh themselves upon arrival. This dates back to Edward VII, who weighed his visitors again when they left to see if they had been well-fed. It is not known if the tradition of sitting on the antique scales continues to this day.