Royals’ Walk to Christmas Service Reveals Deep Family Dysfunction

The British royal family put a brave face on Christmas as its chief members, led by King Charles and Queen Camilla, took their customary walk to church on the Sandringham estate, closing out a year likely to be remembered for a rolling succession of health crises.

Both the king and Kate Middleton announced they had cancer this year. Kate has since said she is cancer-free, but Charles continues to have weekly treatment.

The annual walk to the Church of St, Mary Magdalene is supposed to exude an impression of unity, stability, and conventional family values. Despite a rapturous reception by a crowd estimated at over 1,000 at this year’s promenade, it exposed deep fractures within the family.

While Kate and William and their children George, Charlotte and Louis were the stars of the show, there was zero public acknowledgement of the king’s other son, Prince Harry, his wife Meghan Markle, or their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, who are in self-imposed exile in California.

Similarly, there was no place for Prince Andrew, who has been drawn into another financial scandal, or his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson—with whom he still lives. Ferguson was apparently banished again, after being restored to the family Christmas celebrations only last year.

Bizarrely, even their pregnant daughter Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi skipped joining her parents—believed to have dined à deux at Andrew’s home—in favor of walking to church with the royals.

The king’s annual speech was broadcast later in the day after being taped in a hospital chapel, marking the first time in 18 years that a monarch’s address has not been filmed at a royal residence.