It's just days before King Charles will gather the royals at Sandringham for a huge family Christmas - but this year's festive season will be one like no other for members of the Firm attending the celebrations.
It will be their first Christmas since the sad death of the late Queen three months ago and Charles' accession to the throne.
A wider circle of royal guests are said to be attending the poignant festivities including Queen Consort Camilla's children Tom and Laura - the first time they've been invited to royal Christmas.
And according to former royal butler Grant Harrold, who previously worked for the King and Camilla for seven years, it will be a bittersweet time for the royals.
He told the Mirror: "I think for them it will very emotional this year and I've no doubt there are tears that will be shed on the day or the night before because they will be remembering her.
"But I'm sure as well it will be a fun time for the youngsters and it will also carry on how the Queen would have wanted it to."
When it comes to the Sandringham celebrations, under the late Queen they would always follow a set tradition.
This includes a gift exchange on Christmas Eve, attending church together on Christmas morning and tucking into a traditional Christmas lunch with all of the trimmings.
And even though it is Charles in charge now, Grant believes very little will change - although the King may forego one of his mother's traditions.
He added: "Knowing what the King is like, I think he will try to mirror everything that has been done in the past.
"But what is interesting is, I don't think he will stay there until February like the Queen used to do to mark her own father's passing. I don't see him doing that and I don't think his schedule will allow it."
But despite Grant believing Christmas will remain pretty much unchanged for Charles, his New Year's celebrations could be quite different.
He explained: "It will be interesting to see what happens this year for New Year, whether the King stays in Sandringham like the Queen used to do or whether he keeps up the tradition of going up to Scotland.
"He may feel he should stay at Sandringham because that is what the Queen did but then he loves Scotland like his mother did.
"From memory, New Year was always quite private, of course, he would have friends come around but it was always quite low-key. So much so, I used to get time off so I could go and visit my mum and dad. "
However, two royals that reportedly definitely won't be making the Sandringham family Christmas are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The couple is expected to celebrate at their home in California after the release of their explosive Netflix docuseries.
The show featured emotional reality TV-style confessionals, unseen photos and a behind-the-scenes look at the couple's private lives.
And in it, the couple railed against their treatment by the royals with Harry claiming he was shouted at by Prince William and that his dad Charles didn't tell the truth.
The series comes just weeks before Harry's tell-all memoir Spare is released, which promised to be "full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom."
And Grant added: "Harry was always very much part of Sandringham and he was always there and one of the first times we saw Meghan Markle in public was at Sandringham with Harry.
"They are family, but we've all been watching this documentary and in January Harry's book is coming out, so if I was in his shoes, I wouldn't really want to be with all the family.
"I think it would make it really awkward for everybody. "
