Kate and William ‘to spend Christmas with Middletons’ says expert
This year, the Royal Family will be having a very different Christmas period to normal. Christmas and New Year for the royals usually involves them all travelling to Sandringham in Norfolk and spending it together. They have numerous traditions, such as the Christmas Eve secret santa and going to St Mary Magdalene church on Christmas morning.
Most of them stay until New Year’s Day before going home, while the Queen stays at Sandringham until February 6, her accession day.
Sadly, this year the royals will not be seeing each other due to concerns over coronavirus.
The Queen and Prince Philip have cancelled their usual Sandringham trip and will be remaining at Windsor Castle for the duration of the holiday period.
However, this is not the first time festive plans have been cancelled for the Duchess of Cambridge.
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Prince William reportedly left Kate in tears over a last minute cancellation (Image: GETTY)
The Royal Family usually spend Christmas at Sandringham (Image: GETTY)
One Christmas, before Kate and William were married, the prince left her in the lurch after the couple spent Christmas apart.
To make matters worse for Kate, he then cancelled their New Year’s Eve plans at the last minute.
Kate was said to be so upset that she would be unable to see him at all over the entire holiday period, that she was left in tears.
Royal biographer Katie Nicholl wrote in her 2011 book ‘The Making of a Royal Romance’: “In November 2006, just before William graduated from Sandhurst, Kate was invited to Sandringham for the Royal Family’s traditional Christmas lunch, the first time a girlfriend had received such an invitation.”
William promised to spend Christmas with the Middletons: Carole, Michael, James and Pippa (Image: GETTY)
Kate turned down the invitation so that she could spend it with her own family, but William promised to spend New Year’s Eve with the Middletons, so they could enjoy some of the holiday time together.
However, on Boxing Day, William changed his mind and decided to stay with his own family for their New Year celebrations.
Ms Nicholl wrote: “William had promised he would join the Middletons to celebrate Hogmanay at Jordanstone House.
“The setting could hardly have been more romantic [and] Kate was eagerly awaiting his arrival.
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The Royal Family on Christmas Day 2019 (Image: GETTY)
Prince William and Kate admiring a reindeer during a visit to a school today (Image: GETTY)
“At the last minute, William had a change of heart and decided to stay with his own family instead.”
He told Kate during a phone call on Boxing Day, leaving his future wife in tears.
Ms Nicholl added: “For William it was no big deal, but for Kate the cancellation was a sign of something more sinister to come.
“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.
Kate Middleton and William visit school in Berwick-upon-Tweed
“Both advised him not to hurry into anything.”
However, this cancellation did not bode well and it was just weeks later that they split.
Amid a media frenzy over a possible proposal, Kate gave William an ultimatum: to fully commit to the relationship or not.
William’s doubts took over and told a devastated Kate that they should have some time apart.
A timeline of William and Kate’s relationship (Image: EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS)
Just a few months later, however, they were back together.
The couple reunited at the Concert for Diana and William whisked Kate off to a holiday in the Seychelles.
The Duchess of Cambridge said in their engagement interview in 2010 that, while it upset her at the time, she actually really valued the time apart from William because it made her “stronger”.
She said: “I think at the time I wasn’t very happy about it but it actually made me a stronger person.
“You find out things about yourself that maybe you hadn’t realised.
“I think you can get quite consumed by a relationship when you’re younger and you know I really valued that for me as well, although I didn’t think it at the time.”
The Making of a Royal Romance was written by Katie Nicholl and published by Weinstein Books in 2011. It is available here.
