Duchess Kate, Prince William and Prince George are already in Norfolk for the holidays. Apparently, they arrived there on Thursday. They’ll be staying at Anmer Hall, which is just one of the homes on the Queen’s extensive Sandringham property. The Queen and the rest of the royals will be staying at Sandringham throughout Christmas as well – the Queen famously enjoys a hyper-scheduled Christmas celebration, with lots of costume changes, drinking, eating and very little time to just chill out in sweatpants. Apparently, Kate’s parents and siblings are going to spend Christmas at Anmer too, and the Middletons arrived soon after Will and Kate. There should be some minor drama about how Will and Kate split their time between Kate’s family and the royals, but still… the whole reason the Queen gave Anmer Hall to Will and Kate was so that they stopped spending so much time at Chateau Middleton. Anyway, the Daily Mail has a nice story about Will and Kate taking George to see Santa in Norfolk:
A wide-eyed Prince George got to meet Father Christmas at the weekend during a surprise family visit to a winter wonderland. The 17-month-old future king clapped his hands in excitement as he toured Santa’s Magical Journey at Thursford, close to the family’s new country home in Norfolk with his parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Members of the public couldn’t believe their eyes as the royal party, who had booked their tickets (£15 for children and £9.50 for adults) in advance, toured the popular attraction with a discreet coterie of bodyguards.
The young prince gazed in awe at animated reindeer, penguins, polar bears and elves set among twinkling lights, tinsel and fake snow during his hour long visit. He also got to see real life elves hard at work making toys in Santa’s workshop and met giant-sized teddy bears preparing to load presents into his sleigh for delivery on Christmas Eve. The highlight of his festive treat, however, was when he summoned up the courage to toddle through a magical forest and go into Father Christmas’s house so he could meet the great man himself.
George had the chance to chat to Father Christmas while William and Kate stood beside him and was given a gift-wrapped wooden train as a present – an ideal present for the youngster who loves his ‘choo choos’. Staff were only told that they were getting an unofficial Royal visit shortly before their arrival with other members of the Middleton family. William and Kate, who is pregnant with her second child, were given a standard timed slot on arrival and queued patiently with other parents.
Sources have told the Mail that William, Kate and George – as well as the rest of the Middleton family – arrived in Norfolk on Thursday for what has been described as a ‘perfect family Christmas’.
Keen to show off their new ten-bedroom mansion, Anmer Hall, situated on the Queen’s Sandringham estate, William and Kate are hosting an extravagant festive celebration for Michael, Carole, James and Pippa. The house, which boasts its own swimming pool and tennis court, was a wedding gift from the Queen and has recently undergone a multi-million pound refit. It is just a short drive from her private country residence, Sandringham House, where the rest of the Royal Family are congregating for their annual holiday.
Now that Kate’s family has joined the extended gathering for the first time, the question remains: will they be invited to join the Queen at church on Christmas Day or one of the daily hunting parties enjoyed by the royals over the festive season, including the coveted Boxing Day pheasant shoot?
‘The Duchess has long been keen to host big family Christmas in her new home, the kind of Christmas she enjoyed as a girl, and most of the Middletons duly arrived on Thursday afternoon,’ the source revealed. ‘It’s not clear yet whether the Duchess’s family have been invited to join the Queen, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see them walking to Church on Christmas Day and even join everyone for lunch before returning to Anmer in the evening. It will be quite a turn up for books if they do, but the Queen doesn’t do anything by the book when it comes to William’s new family.’
Aides say that the Duke and Duchess will joined the Queen for church on Christmas morning without their toddler son.
If the Middletons go to church “with the Queen,” I doubt it will be at the Queen’s invitation. The Middletons might attend the same church service, but they won’t be part of the Queen’s party, you know? As for George getting to meet Santa… I wish there were photos. I suspect George probably yanked on Santa’s beard and kicked him at least once, but you never know.
Photos courtesy of PCN, WENN.
Where’s j eyre? He probably shared a stogie and flask of WKD Vodka with the old bearded one.
I imagine Sir G-Chill shoved the tot in line behind him to the floor when she came to take her seat atop Santa’s lap so he could continue discussing with Santa his thoughts on “the North Pole Situation.” Once they decided that those “inane, malodorous flying bits of venison should wear more bells” for his enjoyment, Sir G-Chill gave Santa a Battlefield Promotion to the rank of Air Commodore and it was then that he whipped out his flask of WKD Vodka to top off the sippy cup with a little bit of holiday cheer, yes. I also think he is probably preparing his Christmas remarks with the new set of crayons he received from his Nurse and is writing them on the Vestry wall at Westminster Abbey.
I am also desperate to listen in on the conversation in which Wills and Kate try to convince “Gran” that the “big” present should come from Father Christmas. “No, I will not let that bearded home invader get the credit – I am the Queen of England! I have Tudor blood, you nitwits – the G-D rocking horse will be from me!”
LOL, j.eyre!
Fantastic!
“No photos please” said William through gritted teeth as George tackled two of the real life elves.
I think the queen gave them Anmer because the heir is expected to have a lavish country pile. Charles isn’t about to hand over Highgrove.
Charles bought Highgrove with his own (Duchy) money. Nothing to do with HM.
All the other siblings were gifted their homes by HM.
W&K get to live in Anmer rent-free but they do not own it. Charles generously bought a country estate for W&K in the mid-2000s when he thought they were getting married. Not sure what happened to it but they never lived there. Gatcomb was purchased and given to Anne. Andrew and Fergie were given money and land to build Sunninghill Park, and they owned it. What’s a little odd is that Edward and Sophie weren’t gifted a home. Edward and Sophie get reduced rent on Bagshot but they don’t own it.
Notasugar: I forgot about Harewood Park Estate. Last I heard it was built/renovated by Charles to be as green as possible. Did they ever visit at all?
Perhaps it was simply added to Charles’s rental properties because Herefordshire isn’t somewhere WK are known to frequent, and clearly they preferred Norfolk.
EDIT: just did a quick google search. Latest article on it is from April 2007. Sorry I can’t post links as i’m commenting from my phone. Anyways, it looks like it’s been revamped completely and added to Charles’s personal property investment portfolio. He raised/invested in the region of £8M-£9M to revamp the existing building and planning permission was granted to build an environmentally friendly 6 bedroom mansion from scratch. He appears to have used the same methods employed to restore Dumfries House in Scotland ie using local workers and artisans and materials except that this estate (900acres total) isn’t a tourist attraction but a work/life space designed to accommodate about 100people in total.
I guess that’s that.
It seemed to me at the time that it was being done by Charles for W&K, and that was the general theme. He was re-doing it to be modern, energy efficient, and self-supporting. Perfect country home, then W&K broke up. Maybe that was part of William’s panic around that time, the idea of marrying, the estate is getting readied, etc. so he ended up rejecting all of it.
LAK:
Yes, Charles and the Dumfries property in Scotland. I also watched a documentary on its restoration. I do recall the tone of the broadcast as Charles and others were concerned he was in too deep and wouldn’t be able to turn a profit on the investment.
I suppose it all turned out OK or Mummy bailed him out?
HM didn’t bail him out over Diana, I doubt she’d bail him out on Dumfries House. He’s in the process of raising £30 million for a foundation now that restoration is complete, so tentatively a success.
Hopefully he’ll give it to Harry…….
Knowing how little Harry will inherit in comparison to William, I hope he leaves Highgrove to him, and William let’s him keep it for good.
Though I was thinking about royal properties in general, do you know what became of Frogmore as a whole? I read load about it when I was reading a DOW biopic and then nothing beyond his sale of it to his brother.
DOW was a very involved Gardner and it seems Harry is one too, so Frogmore would be a perfect home for him in that respect, if he isn’t to inherit Highgrove or Harewood Park Estate.
EDIT: Peter’s wedding reception was held there. Beyond that, lt’s not mentioned.
If Charles bought Harewood with Duchy money, I don’t think he can leave it to Harry. I’ve always liked Frogmore, even if it is the family cemetery. I was surprised that wasn’t offered to Edward and instead they ended up with Bagshot.
Edward/David, Bertie, and all spent a lot of time at Frogmore as children. Maybe her father had bad memories of his unhappy childhood there, so HM never favored it?
I also hope that Highgrove is for Harry. He seems as though he would take a great personal interest in running the estate.
LAK, Frogmore is still in use for events. I believe the rumor has been that it will go to the DOE should he outlive HM.
I don’t think Harry can inherit Highgrove; it was purchased by the Duchy of Cornwall. Charles could request that when/if William is POW/Duke of Cornwall he allow Harry to live there, but he can only request it. He could request that Harry get to purchase it from the Duchy, but William could refuse. When he is no longer Duke of Cornwall, Charles doesn’t get a say in the Duchy. Charles cannot split the Duchy properties and give some to William and some to Harry.
Christmas church King Harry is mad at P Will. Plus Wills didn’t show up at Christmas Eve soccer instead that common frumpy middleton hangers on boy showed, and K Harry team fail.
Is weak William neglecting his only sibling for the likes of social climbers carole middleton and hangers on middleton siblings, grown and no other relations hpuse to visit; instead all the middletons hanging on at AH – disgust!
Christmas Church King Harry stayed away from Waity and Will, Harry did not even look directly at Wills.
What these photos of George proves is that Kate did carry that cutie. Happy Holidays, Kate.
There is one less surrogate conspiracy theorist out there. And by that, I mean me.
lol
I don’t think she used a surrogate either, but a likeness hardly disproves that theory. More often than not, surrogates are just carriers of the biological mom’s fertilized eggs.
I’m really curious. (no snark) why do you (or the conspiracists) think she used a surrogate?
•LAK•
I’m with you. The surrogacy theories stump me because, among other things, Kate carries herself way differently while pregnant than when not pregnant. True of all pregnant women.
That and the children they have, if they went the surrogacy route, wouldn’t be legitimate and not in the line of succession.
LS: I wasn’t going to mention the legal and physical steps taken (even today) to ensure that the baby wasn’t a born from a surrogate, but I thought there might be a legit reason that they see.
What’s funny to me is that the woman often accused of being the surrogate, one Tamara Fogle, lives on my road, and I’ve seen her and her baby so that always makes me laugh when people post with all certainty that she’s PGtips’s surrogate or surrogate donor (egg) or had twins one of which she handed over to Kate!!!
Those theories were crazy. I asked a few times what evidence there was to think that and each person said evidence is on this site or that site. And that just lead to other sites saying info is found elsewhere. Ugh.
I don’t see how she carries herself differently though. Can you give some examples?
The big reason was varying sizes of bump, and the fact that her stomach was hard when she came out of the hospital. Along with George looking older than a newborn.
That’s what was said, not what I think. I thought it was ludicrous then and remember asking people why someone who they all thought hung on to be in her position would jeopardize the future of her child by hiring a surrogate? They did not have an answer for that, other than “that’s why it’s secret!”.
He is really a cute baby and shows so much life just as a baby should!
He shows a happy spirit even at this young age. Little does he know what awaits him in the future. He is precious and adorable.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens on Christmas Day. Presumably the Queen expects the Middletons to attend services somewhere, just not with her family. I also highly doubt that they’ve been invited to join in for the Boxing Day shoot – that’s one we hear every year and it never pans out for them.
•AM•
Why would it be horrible if the Middletons attended the local church like the Royal Family does? Her non-invitation of them to ‘The Big House’ is not personal but people act like it is…
I wasn’t suggesting it’s personal – she doesn’t do it for anyone else, which is exactly why she hasn’t done it for the Middletons.
It’s taken personally because the Middletons’ daughter is a future queen consort and their grandson is a prince of the blood and third in line to the British throne. That proximity to royalty by blood and marriage, some feel, should allow the Middletons in the royal circle.
aqua
Proximity aside the Midds still have an image issue. They tried (and failed) to rehab it. Carole finds and returns missing dog for 1. People caught on that a pr firm was hired by them.
Also, the Midds are still seen as freeloaders of sorts and social climbers. The tought of Carol having a room at KP sent people into a tizzy. They appear more low key lately like other married in royals families. If they keep doing this it might be more accepted.
As it is now Kate will be consort, but that can change. And i’m thinking the BRF do know the secrets of the midds finances and Uncle Gary. They might want to keep their distance. George will always remain, but distance can be created from the rest.
“That proximity to royalty by blood and marriage, some feel, should allow the Middletons in the royal circle. ” Why? Marriage didn’t gain any other in-laws access (even the Spencers – family of the future consort), why should it now? The Middletons are not members of the British Royal Family. One Middleton married one Windsor, and the BRF may consider her temporary. Other spouses have been temporary (Diana, Fergie, Mark Phillips), why not KM?
I’m with FLORC on this. The BRF have the goods on the Middleton finances, Uncle Gary, everything. They will hold it in reserve, and if they need to, they will not hesitate to use it in the future. “It will all end in tears.”
Nota
I think the Queen speaks after much thought. She does it so infrequently, commenting on the lives of others. I think she had all the inside info and Will and Kate’s up’s, downs and break ups. That’s why she said that and why we should take note.
And i’m sure the Windosrs have info on lots of people. Just to have for insurance.
Did he crotch kick Fater Christmas? Bite a reindeer? Slap an elf? Slyly pocket a toy train? You know he did all of that and more! Gawd, G is too much with the cute,
After the cute video of Estelle yesterday it’s kinda sad not to get an equally cute picture of George with Santa. Mind, I do agree there was probably some kicking/punching/beard pulling knowing this kid, but it can’t be too hard to get one nice photo through the punches, can it?
Seeing as people were asked not to take pictures while the family was there, the public will never see those pics unless there’s some PR disaster to counter. But yeah, it would be nice to have pictures like Estelle’s, but George’s dad is a paranoid twit.
I totally understand William’s need to protect his family from the paps considering the way his mother died.
@Ally.M, he was in a public place with families. Not out on the street being hounded. William is paranoid to the point that kid is going to have a complex. And Diana was Harry’s mother too, but you don’t see him acting this way. There’s a way to balance the public’s desire to see his kid and not have them totally intrude on his life.
William disliked the press long before Diana died. That’s just trotted out to explain it, but it isn’t the entire reason why. No doubt it added fuel to the fire, though. William and Diana quarreled about her use of the press while she was alive.
I prefer to believe Diana’s death has more to do with William’s dislike of the press. There are different expectations on William to Harry. It seems Harry can do no wrong, he’s naturally warm and charming like Diana but he’s made himself look like an idiot many times. If William had behaved that way he would never be forgiven.
bluhare
I thought that was more to his mother airing dirty laundry and relationships. It was a show for the paps. He was ashamed of his mother’s behavior rather than the press part of it.
Ally
Let’s not forget Diana shed her RPO’s and played a game daring the paps to follow her everywhere. William’s behavior towards paps is the same for press. Do it his way or there will be hell to pay. There’s just so many solid cases in history to support that.
Ally M: William will never be caught doing idiotic things in public because the palace will take out an injunction to ensure they are not revealed.
There is a Palace (with media collusion) policy that means the heir will always be protected whilst the spare is not. Infact the spare is often offered up as a sacrificial lamb to make the heir look better.
In the case of William vs Harry, there are many idiotic things that William has done, which have impacted people which were revealed for 5mins, but not allowed to gain traction because the articles and pictures were pulled or a deflection created and a substitute story about the idiocy of Harry (or other royals who aren’t direct line heirs) used. The deflection is them given a lot of media attention such that William’s bad behaviour is forgotten and the image of a staid, boring, responsible heir remains intact. Most recent use of this tactic is William’s hunting.
FLORC, I think they quarreled about that, but I think they also quarreled about her using the media to float her POV and/or further her personal agenda.
CP Victoria PD have Princess Estelle and PM, CP Fred and Mary’s P Christian children, young heirs interacting with their people much younger and more often. Look at how long before any paps of P George – since Christening.
For the monarchy to be relevant and appreciated after HM (God Save our Queen), PW nEed to wake up and realize Prince George is different- and don’t have PW baggage. We really don’t know and cannot blame paps for Lady Di PoW. PG seem to be much more a peoples Prince like uncle Prince Harry. Wills need to remove his Line and go with the middletons.
We all can be sure .ma Carole the middletons had pictures taken,. Weak Will only control the paps he knows about. Waity and Carole didn’t miss the trip.
Even loving nanny Maria enforcing PG friendliness to the people- telling Hi and smiling from the back seat of Wills car leaving HM Christmas lunch (PG and nanny Maria went early and separately to BP in PG car and his security) .
Pippa
I’ve asked before but you never answer. What is your first language? Because I have a difficult time understanding your posts. They make little sense outside of your extreme dislike of anything William or Kate do.
Your comments crash my translator app.
I saw the video posted at DM of Santa’s Magical Journey at Thursford. It looked very nice.
As far as researching the homes on the Sandringham estate, I couldn’t find much in the way of documentaries on Youtube, however, I learned about the York Cottage property in a documentary titled Prince John, the Windsors’ tragic secret. Thank you to those who replied.
I saw that too Citresse and wished we had something like Thursford in the USA. That was a really cool Christmas experience.
“Prince George’s parents-” damn straight! lol
OMG!!! He’s so cute!
Thanks to BP PC- CH P Will was there and Waity and the hangers on Middleton didn’t run off alone to the Park without Wills. As Waity did in Hyde Park to be sure to pap she alone was with P George.
Can’t ma carole mike middleton and hangers on sibs social climb some other time. Don’t they have Christmas to celebrate at buckleberry and visit later or go off with the common middletons. Ma Carole middleton constant chain around P Will and now P George.
One thing I cannot fault Carole MIddleton for is wanting to spend time with her only grandchild and to see him opening his Christmas presents. We’d have pulled back bloody stumps if we’d have tried to stop my mother doing the same with her grandchildren. She still goes over to watch them open their presents Christmas morning and they’re in their 20’s now.
The social climbing’s a topic for another time.
Pics of this kid make me happy. He is so cute.
Me too! Those cheeks just hit a button in me. I want to cover his little face in kisses! So freakin adorable.