Cough. Range Rover. Cough.
These are some photos of Duchess Kate and Prince William driving into Buckingham Palace yesterday. William was driving! As one does. *sniff* It seems that Prince George was there too… I guess he was in a baby carrier in the backseat? Either that or Prince George travels in his own Range Rover and security detail. You never know! The point of this family trip to Buckingham Palace was a pre-Christmas lunch with the Queen and other members of the royal family. Camilla was there, as was Princess Anne (the Princess Royal), the Duke of York and Princess Beatrice. Everybody got a good look at Prince George too:
A landmark for Prince George on Wednesday – his first Christmas party with the royal family. He was taken by his parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Buckingham Palace for lunch with most of the extended Windsor clan.
Joining the young family was nanny Jessie Webb, who sat in the back of the Range Rover as William drove through the palace gates.
On hand to coo over the baby were plenty of other youngsters, too. One of William and Kate’s bridesmaids, Lady Louise, 10, and her brother James, 6, were there, as was the newest royal family baby: Lord Freddie Windsor and his wife Sophie’s daughter, Maud.
William and Kate’s vehicle was the last to arrive for the lunch, observers tell PEOPLE. But the proud parents were all smiles when they left, with Kate waving to onlookers on the way home.
Missing from the festivities at the palace this year was Prince Harry, who is on his way back from the South Pole, where he and other teams successfully made an icy trek for charity last week.
The party is an annual affair for the entire family, with more than 40 people at the lunch. A smaller gathering will be held on Christmas Day at the Queen’s country home in Norfolk, Sandringham House.
William’s cousin Princess Beatrice, just back from New York (where she visited sister Eugenie), was driven to the palace by her father, Prince Andrew, while the pregnant Zara Phillips and her mother, Princess Anne, were also among the lunch crowd.
So… they do a Christmas lunch in London one week before the actual Christmas celebration at Sandringham. I don’t think I realized that. I imagine that they save the gifts for Sandringham, right? And as I’ve learned from reading the Daily Mail, apparently inexpensive gifts are the order of the day even amongst the royals. No one is wrapping up iPads or jewelry – the gifts are all about socks, jams, maybe something made by hand.
Also – when is Zara due? I feel like she’s due really soon. A Christmas baby, or maybe a New Year’s baby.
Last thing – I’d really like to see Kate’s full outfit. She’s just wearing a light sweater, right? I love it when she wears red, it’s a good color on her.
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News.
William looks kind of hot in glasses.
Yes, he pulls them off. Nerdy hot.
Yeah… I am def feeling him, and that is a first!
George is such a beautiful baby!
Red’s her color!
She actually looks good in many colors. She is fortunate in that regard.
The royal family seems to party constantly at Christmas. It’s just one event after another. Glad Prince Philip is well this year.
The impression I’m getting is that they’re making a fairly big deal out of this Christmas as Prince Phillip may not be around for next years.
Yea. I don’t know how many thought Prince Phillip would be around for much longer just a few months ago.
And deep colors and jewel tones are lovely on brunettes.
It looks like George indeed travels seperately from his parents.
These photos don’t show it but there was an older lady in the back seat, not a royal, she looked like a staff member ,William was probably in his travel seat out of site and she was keeping him amused.
I think it’s just business as usual , nothing special because of Georges arrival. They have this Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace every year, all the distant relatives are invited even a few 3rd cousins. not everyone in the family gets an invitation to Sandringham, only the immediate family and a few special guests, There isn’t enough room for them, as it is the staff move out of their rooms into hotels or cottages on the estate to accommodate those that are invited over Christmas.
The woman was the nanny.
Thanks for the info of the nanny being shopped out of the photos.
I should have known. These photos are always shopped to make the fairytale seem real.
What Kate Wore thinks that she was wearing the (gorgeous, IMO) red McQueen dress from the jubilee boat thing last year.
I think Zara is due the same as me, mid-January.
She looks really great in red. I like red but even though we have similar colouring, it looks all wrong on me! I like when William wears his glasses. He looks like such a huge dork. I love it!
I think they had the Nanny duck. On the DM, you see her in some photos and then she miraculously disappears…
Yes, the nanny was in the back seat, presumably with George.
I think it’s silly to pretend she doesn’t exist. Everyone expects them to have a nanny, and for her to be around for official events.
It was funny to see the original story complete with pics of the nanny amended later to remove nanny pics and all references to her.
Same thing happened with the christening where all references to nanny were removed.
The nanny’s been erased already??! Now if they could just erase her from our memory — they’d be all set.
😉
Well I’m surprised and pleased that People magazine, usually so sycophantic to the royal message, has bucked the trend and acknowledged the nanny was there.
I think it’s creepy to pretend that a human being who is so close to your family and helping raise your child is non-existent. This is what really bugs me about Will&Kate, they obviously buy into the hype that their title makes them better than other people, and that the public will just buy whatever lies they are selling. Even if those lies include writing out a person’s identity and existence. Sooo normal.
The Queen always acknowledged her nannies.
I don’t think anyone was trying to pretend the nanny doesn’t exist. She’s still in the pictures on the DM, and has been since it went up. And the DM article says that There was “no sign” of George (even though you can see the handle of his carrier in the back), so even if they didn’t mention the nanny they obviously weren’t doing so to pretend W&K were the only ones with George.
I don’t think it’s because of their titles. In fact, I think it’s the opposite — they are SO busy trying to prove they are just like us and want to highlight that when we know they are not like us at all.
The Queen has this luncheon at Buckingham Palace a week before Christmas for all her extended family who don’t go to Sandringham for Christmas day. So her cousins the Gloucesters and the Kents and their children usually come as do her niece and nephew and their families etc. etc.
Yep. It’s a fantastic way for everyone to get together.
Every time I see a picture of William, he looks like he got a double dose of petulance from both parents without his mother’s emotional intelligence or his father’s sense of duty.
Really? I don’t see that all. I think more than anything both his parents petulance gives him the right to draw boundaries they never did and should have.
You know – I’m old enough to remember Wills early days, and his parents really did a good job when he was young. There were strong boundaries drawn to protect him from the public. When he was at school, all the way through St. Andrews, there was a press ban on his daily activities.
So he may have seen the press intrusion on his mother, but he himself was able to live greatly out of the public eye when he needed to.
@Harriet,
What an insightful comment!
I think everyone has the right to draw boundaries and his parent’s petulance doesn’t come into play except watching it and being affected by it causes him to draw boundaries. Good for him!
Suze, Except William was totally out of control for many years. He had no discipline and was quite the terror until some discipline was introduced by Charles’ former nanny.
Cute story from Ken Wharfe (he was the boys’ RPO before Diana’s) about Charles and the boys. Apparently the boys, when they were very young, liked to ambush people and one day they did it to their father on his way to an engagement via helicopter. Except they ‘got him’ with sheep poo (can’t remember how lol). Charles laughed about it and went to his next engagement with sheep muck on his suit. 🙂
William probably was a terror, although considering how beloved his nannies are I am assuming their discipline was welcomed by him. Kids can be that way. I admire Charles for going about his business with sheep sh*t on his clothes!
I’m just responding to the idea that William has lead his whole life in the public eye, with no boundaries set by his parents. That isn’t really true. Up to adulthood he was given a lot of privacy by the press.
@Suze,
I agree that William always had boundaries set for him as a child and that’s a good thing. Of course, as you mature into an adult, you have to set boundaries for yourself and other people. I think he’s good at that even if he gets flak for it. I also think that watching his parents boundaries erode (warring in this press, for instance) is what probably makes him hyper aware of how important they are.
All bets were off once he became an adult.
It’s just the way it is. Not fair, but there it is.
I don’t know that William was a model child. He certainly wasn’t a model small child. The fidgeting at Andrew and Sarah’s wedding (although blowing a trumpet with his program was awfully cute) and running all over at Harry’s christening. I read that the Queen told them to start disciplining him as his behaviour was not good.
@Suze,
Agree that we are all on our own as adults. I do think he had a good foundation.
@Seagulls, I see the same petulance, without any sense of duty whatsoever. Occasionally, when he’s with children, you see a bit of Diana’s empathy. I do think he’s probably a terror to live with. Spoiled, entitled, obnoxious, and likely wins every argument – that is – if Kate ever puts up a fight.
Kaiser, The gifts from the RF to each other on Christmas Day are often gag gifts too. One year, I do believe HM got a wooden toilet seat so she’d have her own ‘loo’ wherever she went.
I mean, how else do you play it when you’ve got practically any and everything you’d ever want??? 🙂
It was Prince Philip who received the toilet seat LOL. The novelty at the time was the fact that it was cushioned and his reaction was priceless… He held it up as if you were going to put it around his neck! However, he was genuinely pleased with the gift and supposedly had it installed immediately after returning from holiday.
HM was given a wooden one too then because there was some significance with the wood… I’ll have to see if I can dig up that article.
Zara is due in early January, possibly late December.
I hate how the press made this all about William and Kate when its about the whole family. How obnoxious it must be for the RF to have to deal with that. I think we can all relate going to a family event where someone is clearly a favorite and i think we can all agree that its annoying as hell. I can only imagine what the rest of the family must feel when they are treated as less by the press over Willy and Cathy and little Jorge.
Anyway, its nice to see Zara and Peter. Im sure the queen enjoyed it as well!
To be honest, as much as I love all things Royal, they are starting to bore me. Especially when there has been this sensational Lawson-Saatchi-Grillo trial going on and I am desperate to hear CB and the UK side regular commenters weigh in on what is going down there!! Very surprised no coverage of the Grillo testimony and closing arguments . Please!
Agree with you! I’ve been following the Grillo trial every day in the online British tabloids and I’ve been dying to add my comments (the British papers are not accepting comments for legal reasons). The trial is fascinating on so many levels.
I’m dying to have a good nutter about this too, and I live here!!!
So glad to hear I’m not alone! This story is mch more interesting than the trashy Kardashians, Glanvilles etc. I was quite interested in barrister argument that CS went after NL essentially for being too generous with his money. I’m also suspicious about the accountant.
Add me to the list. I think it’s awful they’re turning it into the “Blame Nigella for Everything” Show.
That isn’t be covered here like I thought it would be. He’s such a nutcase still trying to hurt her any way he can.
Inexpensive low stress gifts make sense for all families. So much expectation goes with pricey trinkets.
Yes. Very true.
Christmas and now Hanukkah are ALL about the gifts and sadly for both, it wasn’t always so. I hate how all holidays have become so commercial.
History lesson: Way back in the day (over a few centuries back) Christmas was a fairly low key but very much a holy day. Gifts were exchanged on New Year’s not on Christmas. On the other hand, Hanukkah, is still a very low key holiday, but was amped up to compete with Christmas. Until a few decades ago presents were rarely exchanged. In fact, in Israel, gifts are usually exchanged on the Jewish New Year and not always on Hanukkah.
It’s a tradition in my family and with the inlaws to only give practical items. All year we buy ourselves things we want. I’m very picky and don’t know what I want until I see it with clothes and shoes so i’ll buy that as I need it throught the year. But something like a Kitchen aid mixer is a christmas item that is a bit pricey, but when 5 people go in on it it’s practical and low cost.
Low cost and practical gifts seem to be more from the heart too. A gift you had to put some thought into instead of going for the new gadget of the year.
I think I recall that last year Kate and Will bought Harry a ‘Grow Your own Girlfriend Kit’.
Prince G wasn’t in the car with the W&K and the nanny. Why have a nanny ride with an empty car seat? That means another nanny was with the kid. So…that means they have more than 1 nanny on staff. Can we stop with the fairytale that W&K are raising this kid without help?
Didn’t see pictures of Zara. I was sure she was on bed rest, but I guess not everyone is a delicate rose when it comes to pregnancy.