Kate Middleton and Prince William give thanks to key workers

Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, 38, and Prince William’s three children – Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two, may have looked forward to spending precious time with their grandparents this Christmas after months of being kept apart by the pandemic. Kate’s parents Carole, 65 and Michael Middleton, 71, live in Bucklebury in Berkshire and the doting grandparents have often helped out with childcare in the past.

Restrictions around Covid-19 were due to be relaxed from December 23 to 27 allowing up to three UK households to mix over Christmas.

However, these plans were scrapped by the Government on Saturday night amid fears a new strain of the virus was spreading at an accelerated pace.

A third of the country was plunged into Tier 4 from midnight on Sunday which puts a ban on all household mixing over Christmas and restricts travel.

Kate and William and understood to have travelled to their Norfolk home Anmer Hall with the children earlier in the week, and while they won’t be affected by Tier 4, Kate’s parents Carole and Michael will.

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Where are Tier 4 restrictions in place?

Here is a full list of areas now in Tier 4:

London (All 32 London boroughs plus City of London)

South East

Kent and Medway

Buckinghamshire

Berkshire (Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, Wokingham, Windsor and Maidenhead and West Berkshire)

Surrey (excluding Waverley)

Hastings and Rother

Havant, Gosport and Portsmouth

East of England

Hertfordshire

Essex (excluding Tendring, Uttlesford and Colchester)

Central Bedfordshire, Bedford, Milton Keynes, Luton

Peterborough

What do Tier 4 restrictions mean?

Tier 4 restrictions see a return to the Government’s original “stay at home” put out in the first national lockdown.

An explanation of Tier 4 restrictions as outlined on the Government website reads: “If you live in a Tier 4 area, you must follow the rules below from Sunday, December 20.

“This means that you cannot meet other people indoors, including over the Christmas period, unless you live with them, or they are part of your existing support bubble.”

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The explanation added: “Outdoors, you can only meet one person from another household.

“These rules will not be relaxed for Christmas.”

How will the Cambridge family mark Christmas?

While Kate, William and their children will be kept apart from wider family this Christmas, they may have a festive catch-up over Zoom.

During the first lockdown, Kate and William revealed the children had been keeping up with relatives with regular video calls.

Carole, who runs children’s party supplies business Party Pieces hinted that George, Charlotte, Louis and their cousin Arthur could take part in a special virtual meet-up on Christmas Eve.

The Party Pieces Instagram post read: “Christmas Eve has always been a special occasion for my family.

“Children get sweetly excited by the idea that Father Christmas is coming, and really want to give him something – and he’ll really appreciate our new Christmas Eve sets and boxes.

“If you’re planning a virtual Christmas, cousins in different households might enjoy organising their goodies for Santa together over a video call.”

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