When Meghan Markle spent her first Christmas at Sandringham with the royal family in 2017, it marked a break in tradition for the family. Meghan and Prince Harry had just announced their engagement the month prior, on November 27 of that year, and were obviously not yet married (that would come in May 2018); generally, only spouses of members of the royal family are invited to Sandringham, where the royal family traditionally spends Christmas every year. For Meghan, though, they made an exception.
A few days after the holiday, Harry revealed to BBC Radio 4’s Today show that that his then fiancée had a “fantastic” time with his family over Christmas: “The family loved having her there,” he said. “I think together we had an amazing time.”
He added, per Hello, “We had great fun staying with my brother and sister-in-law and running ‘round with the kids.” (My how times have changed.)
Harry was further asked if there were any family traditions that had to be explained to Meghan. “Oh, plenty,” Harry said. “I think we’ve got one of the biggest families that I know of, and every family is complex, as well. No, look, she’s done an absolutely amazing job. She’s getting in there and it’s the family I suppose that she’s never had.”
Harry caught some flak for that last comment at the time, but what he likely meant was the large family that Meghan never had—Meghan is an only child by her parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, and they divorced when she was young.
Last year, in their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, Meghan herself opened up about her first Christmas at Sandringham and how she was seated next to Harry’s grandfather, Prince Philip, who would have been 96 at the time. “At dinner, I was sat next to H’s grandfather, and I just thought it was so wonderful, and I was like, ‘Oh, we chatted, and it was so great, and I talked about this and talked about this,’” Meghan said. Pretty hilariously, Harry later told Meghan that she “had his bad ear,” to which Meghan replied “Oh, well, I thought it went really well.”
Meghan said, “I remember so vividly the first Christmas at Sandringham, calling my mom, and she’s like, ‘How’s it going?’ and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s amazing.’ It’s just like a big family like I always wanted. And there was just this constant movement and energy and fun.”
Meghan unknowingly started a new tradition of members of the royal family being able to bring partners they were not yet married to. For example, Kate Middleton was not invited to join the family at Sandringham for Christmas 2010, despite already being engaged to Prince William. Rugby player Mike Tindall was also not invited to join the family during his engagement to Zara Phillips, Princess Anne’s daughter, also in 2010. (Mike and Zara married in July 2011, three months after William and Kate.)
That said, in 2019, two years after Meghan’s first Christmas with the royal family, Princess Beatrice’s then-fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi was allowed to join in the festivities, despite not officially being a part of the family. (Bea and Edo married that next summer.)
“Whether there was an unwritten rule about the royals’ girlfriends and boyfriends being invited to Christmas before marriage we’ll never know, but it certainly seems to have been relaxed in recent years,” said Hello’s online royal correspondent Danielle Stacey. “If you think of modern families now and how many couples choose to cohabit for a long time before marriage, it’s a reflection of modern society that Meghan and Edoardo were invited to join the royals for Christmas Day before their weddings. It’s also an opportunity for newer members to get to know the royals in a more intimate setting. We know that the Windsors sit down for a formal dinner on Christmas Eve after exchanging presents, and then there’s a traditional turkey dinner on Christmas Day, followed by a day of outdoor pursuits, including shooting and long walks, on Boxing Day [December 26].”
Unfortunately, after what seemed like a pretty delightful Christmas in 2017 with the royal family, Meghan (and Harry) would only spend one more Christmas at Sandringham—the next year, 2018, when Meghan was pregnant with Prince Archie. For the next five Christmases (including, likely, this one), Harry and Meghan would be elsewhere for the holiday, particularly after stepping back as working members of the royal family in January 2020.
