For most of us, Christmas is all about bringing the family together, with relatives travelling from all routes to be under one roof for the magical day every year.

Yearly family gatherings of this nature tend to be accompanied by yearly family traditions, and no family takes on traditions quite like the Royal Family.

‌The royals have been spending their Christmases at Sandringham Estate since 1988, a tradition started by the late Queen Elizabeth II – and has continued ever since, with King Charles his first Christmas at Sandringham following the Queen’s death last year.‌

While some of their Christmas traditions are obviously unachievable to the wider public, there’s a broad spectrum of yearly activities in the royal festive period that are easily accessible to the wider public.

Express.co.uk has chosen five royal Christmas traditions that you can bring into your home, to make your Christmases feel a bit more regal.

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Christmas cards

It’s no secret that the Royal Family are well accustomed to an annual Christmas card, a longstanding tradition that has continued documenting the growing family for decades. According to the Royal Family’s website, Queen Elizabeth sent out around 750 cards, which she would start signing as early as during her summer trips to Balmoral.

The Prince and Princess of Wales’s 2023 Christmas card shows the family-of-five together, with beaming smiles and matching outfits, and it certainly got the holiday cheer going, clocking in over 100K likes on X (formerly Twitter). The King and Queen’s uses a picture from their Coronation.

It’s a simple tradition to carry into your household – just get the family together for a portrait that you can send with seasonal greetings to relatives and close friends.

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While Christmas time is undoubtedly a period of togetherness, it ultimately reminds us how fortunate we are to have the important things in life. For the Royal Family, this sentiment may be behind their Christmas tradition of giving back, as they make donations or voluntee at local charities around Windsor every year.

Princess Kate has recently been snapped with her children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis as they helped pack gift packs for children who are less fortunate, in footage that was released on Monday.

Of course, this is a tradition that is simple to bring in at home too – simply search for local charities around your area and find one that resonates with you, and feel free to support them in any way possible.

Christmas Eve black tie dinner

Christmas Eve seems to be one of those days that every household spends differently. Some choose to indulge in Chinese takeaway before the turkey rush – others spend the night dressed in matching pyjamas. For the Royal Family however, Christmas Eve is slightly different.

The night before Christmas is an elegant affair, with members of the family attending a fancy black-tie dinner. Prince Harry reveals in his book Spare that the family often dines at a “long table covered with white cloth and white name cards”.

The family is known to raise a glass at the yearly Christmas Eve dinner, where the late Queen Elizabeth was served her favourite cocktail, the ‘Zara’, according to PopSugar. The family are also known to exchange cheesy jokes from Christmas crackers at the table.

So, if you’re in the mood to make Christmas Eve more of a formal occasion, swap the pyjamas for tiara’s, and get the family around the dinner table for an elegant dinner party. Simply dress the dining table in a white cloth and place name cards around, leaving space for cocktails of course.

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Charades

It’s Christmas Day, bellies are full, plates are clean, and the family is likely experiencing the yearly afternoon slump. How do you get energy levels back on the up? For the royals, a game of charades seems to do the trick.

The Windsor’s have reportedly made a tradition out of playing charades following Christmas dinner every year, with the whole family getting involved. Other activities that fill up an afternoon in Sandringham include jigsaw puzzles and films projected in the ballroom.

‌If you’re lucky enough to have your very own ballroom, a yearly projected Christmas film would be a treat for the family. However, in the likely case that a ballroom is not available in your home, board games are always a Christmas tradition staple, with Scrabble a reported favourite among the Windsors.‌

Sarah Ferguson recently gave an insight into the game of choice for the family on Tea Talks with the Duchess and Sarah podcast, revealing Queen Elizabeth was not a fan of Monopoly as it “caused rows”, but added: “[They do] love games, board games, card games, Scrabble, jigsaws.”

Christmas speech

Already a Christmas tradition held in many households, and probably the easiest to implement, families across the country gather round to watch the 3pm broadcast of the monarch’s speech.‌

Queen Elizabeth II had been giving her annual Christmas speech since 1952, when she became Queen following the death of her father King George VI. The majority of people in the country have only ever known the Queen to deliver the speech at Christmas – so it was a drastic change to the system when King Charles delivered his maiden Christmas speech following the Queen’s death last year.

While King Charles’s speech marked a new beginning, for many around the country, the same old tradition will continue at 3pm on December 25, and the Royal Family will also be sat down to watch the speech together following their Christmas services and dinner.

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