At Sandringham House, Norfolk, where the royals have their Christmas, they weigh you when you arrive and when you leave, as if you are a pig. This is their idea of fun. The house is filled with guns to kill birds: never think this family is vulnerable. They invented the Christmas aesthetic, and they fill the news vacuum from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day.
“Christmas is always huge for the monarchy,” an insider tells me. “It’s a starring moment, and not because he [King Charles] is competing with EastEnders. It's what we've come to expect. And it's important they get it right”. The polling figures for the monarchy among the under 34s are dire, and under-reported: 59 per cent want an elected head of state.
