Prince Harry keeps this royal Christmas tradition going for Archie and Lilibet even after moving to California
Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet have never experienced a royal Christmas at Sandringham House and this sadly doesn’t look likely to change this year. However, whilst they live an ocean away, Prince Harry is determined to give his children a taste of what celebrating in Norfolk with the royals is really like.Even after he and Meghan moved to California, he's kept one of the Royal Family’s most famous festive traditions going. Unlike the majority of families in the UK and US, Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lili open presents on Christmas Eve like the rest of the royals.Writing in his memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex explained this is a "German tradition that survived the anglicizing of the family surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor". It dates back to Queen Victoria's reign in the 19th century.
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(Image credit: Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)In Germany and many other European countries including Sweden and Norway, presents are opened on 24th December and this is the main day of celebrations.Prince Harry went on to describe Christmas Eve in 2020, sharing, "We FaceTimed with several friends, including a few in Britain. We watched Archie running around the tree. And we opened presents. Keeping to the Windsor family tradition."After growing up exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve, keeping this going for his own children is a lovely way for Harry to feel connected to his family and make new festive memories with Archie and Lili that tie in with his own. For him and Meghan to keep to the "Windsor family tradition" once and then abandon it would be surprising, so they probably still do this now.Whether or not they open every single one of their Christmas presents before Christmas Day is another matter, though Harry and Meghan also seem to be happy to uphold another royal custom. That Christmas in 2020 the Duke of Sussex received an ornament shaped like his grandmother Queen Elizabeth from Meghan.Sign up to our free daily email for the latest royal and entertainment news, interesting opinion, expert advice on styling and beauty trends, and no-nonsense guides to the health and wellness questions you want answered."One present was a little Christmas ornament of…the Queen! I roared. What the-? Meg had spotted it in a local store and thought I might like it. I held it to the light. It was Granny’s face to a T," he wrote. "I hung it on an eye-level branch. It made me happy to see her there. It made Meg and me smile."Sadly for Harry, the Queen ornament didn’t last long, as the then-one-year-old Archie "jostled the stand" when he was playing and it fell to the ground and smashed. These kinds of small, humorous and inexpensive gifts are a staple for the Royal Family at Christmas.
(Image credit: Photo by Samir Hussein/Samir Hussein/WireImage via Getty)It’s well-known that this is the theme they have with presents and Harry himself was once given a funny "grow your own girlfriend" kit by Princess Catherine before he met Meghan. Other iconic royal gifts include a singing fish, a leather toilet seat and a spoon with "cereal killer" on it.The Royal Family are also eager to see what they’ve received each Christmas Eve, with Prince Harry revealing the process is a "free-for-all"."By custom, at the start of the night, each of us located our place, stood before our mound of presents. Then suddenly, everyone began opening at the same time. A free-for-all, with scores of family members talking at once and pulling at bows and tearing at wrapping paper," he declared.
