There are few things funnier than a “royal expert” Britsplaining Americans and American customs to a British audience. I’ll never forget the royal experts fumbling to explain the importance of the Fourth of July to a British audience, not to mention their convoluted explanations for Thanksgiving. Well, Prince Harry and Meghan just spent their fifth Christmas in a row in Montecito (in 2019, they spent the holiday in Canada). They have not spent Christmas in the UK since 2018. The royal experts are at a loss to explain why Harry and Meghan are not desperate to follow German-Christmas rules whilst sleeping on lumpy cots in the servants’ quarters of Sandringham. So royal expert Ingrid Seward was called upon to Britsplain the oh-so-American Christmas customs Harry and Meghan might follow. Some highlights:
Sandringham is the golden ticket!! At a recent solo outing, Meghan touched on what Christmas would look like for the Sussexes, saying they would have a great meal and play games before hinting they would have a singalong with a guitar. And royal biographer Ingrid Seward says this couldn’t be more different for Harry who used to view Christmas at Sandringham as the “golden ticket”. She told the Mirror: “The present opening on Christmas Eve with his extended family and then church and traditional Christmas lunch the next day. Then the Boxing Day pheasant shoot and in between loads of party games and drinking.”
A happy-holidays tradition: “Since his marriage to Meghan in 2018, Harry has only had Christmas at Sandringham once in December the same year. Instead, he has embraced the traditions of the ‘happy holidays’ favoured by his adopted country. The only relative he has in California is his mother-in-law, Doria and according to Meghan, she will be have been with them at their Montecito home. They will have picked a tree from the rows upon rows of Christmas pines in one of the local stores. Their house will be decorated, and the yard (garden) strung with festive lights. The wealthy residents of Montecito hire interior designers to decorate their houses and trees to perfection.”
Meghan would never hire anyone to decorate for the holidays: “It would not look good if Meghan who publicises herself as the all-American homemaker was to hire someone to adorn their house and decorate their tree. She will have done it herself and made the gingerbread house as is traditional in America.”
Why King Charles didn’t invite the Sussexes: Ingrid added: “Back at Sandringham it will have been the traditional Christmas UK style that Harry knows so well. King Charles would have loved the opportunity to see his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, but he knew inviting Harry and Meghan would have been awkward for the rest of the family. So, there was no official invitation.
The Sussexes were invited to Althorp though: “Harry and Meghan were invited for Christmas at Althorp with thrice-married Uncle Charles, now Earl Spencer, but have decided to stay in California. Meghan says it’s important for her that Archie and Lilibet can have ‘connective memories’ of Thanksgiving and Christmas at home and enjoy the traditions like putting out ‘carrots for the reindeer.’
C-Word is killing me: “It would not look good if Meghan who publicises herself as the all-American homemaker was to hire someone to adorn their house and decorate their tree.” Decorating the tree is one of the best moments of the holidays, why would Meghan and Harry outsource that? And does Seward imagine that the Windsors decorate their own trees? Please, of course not. Now, considering the size of the Sussexes’ enormous Montecito property, I bet they do hire professionals to put lights on their mansion and in their yard. Anyway, I’m sure the Sussexes had a lovely Christmas full of their new family traditions and I bet Meghan cooked and baked a lot throughout the week. Look at me, I can do the same thing as Seward: it is believed that Harry, following gauche American peasant traditions, played dress up as someone called ‘Santa Claus’ and gave ‘gifts’ to his children. It is understood that the Sussexes’ marriage is on its last leg because Meghan was seen kissing Santa underneath the mistletoe.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Netflix.
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- Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex attending the One Year to Go Event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 at Mountain Square Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Whistler, Canada When: 14 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex attending the One Year to Go Event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 at Mountain Square Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Whistler, Canada When: 14 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- One Year to Go event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 at Mountain Square Featuring: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex Where: Whistler, Canada When: 14 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- One Year to Go event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 at Mountain Square Featuring: Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex Where: Whistler, Canada When: 14 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex attending the final day of the One Year to Go Event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 and go curling at the Vancouver Curling Club at Hillcrest Community Centre Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 16 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex attending the final day of the One Year to Go Event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 and go curling at the Vancouver Curling Club at Hillcrest Community Centre Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 16 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attending the final day of the One Year to Go Event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 and go curling at the Vancouver Curling Club at Hillcrest Community Centre Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 16 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex attending the final day of the One Year to Go Event before the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 and go curling at the Vancouver Curling Club at Hillcrest Community Centre Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Vancouver, Canada When: 16 Feb 2024 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
Seward needs to keep quiet. I remember those books she wrote deriding Diana. Now she’s doing the same thing to harry and Meghan. Hey Ingrid even martha Stewart has help decorating her tree. Ingrid Charles would love to see those grandchildren so much that he evicted them from frogmore
Sounds to me like another fake rule she’s trying to make happen so they can then deride Meghan for breaking it. ‘Sources believe the Duchess of Sussex hired trendy but controversial firm…’
Is this a typo:
“The only relative [Harry] has in California is his mother-in-law,…”???
Trying to separate harry from his wife and kids in peoples minds.
That’s shocking, no? She’s horrible!
I thought this was super weird too. Like, if you’re going to consider his mother-in-law a relative, the same act that made Doris his mother-in-law was the one that made Meghan his wife. And let’s definitely not count his children closer degree relatives as his MIL.
I don’t use “relative” to describe immediate family. I definitely wouldn’t use it to describe my spouse and children. It’s for people I’ve never lived with and never would live with. So the way Seward uses it doesn’t seem weird to me.
I don’t remember Harry refering to Xmas at Sandringham as the golden ticket in Spare. I do remember him getting a biro for a present one year, and being relegated to servants quarters.
I don’t remember that either. If he did call it “the golden ticket”, he was being sarcastic. I have a clear memory that he wished he was anywhere else.
I distinctly remember the biro part! LOL That was from Princess Margaret.
I can’t read c-words crap BUT the only defence is I have a friend who decorates trees.. So c-words showed herself. My friend costs 20k per tree, btw. 60k a day
I wish I could see one of those 120k trees!,
The golden ticket lol. As for decorating for Christmas I see signs up starting in October here where I live advertising to put up Christmas lights and lots of people use that service. As for her tree well I believe that they do that as a family. My god they need to move on from the Sussex fiction and start writing the truth about the leftovers.
The Sussexes are who keeps Harry’s family a float. Without mentioning them there is nothing much of interest re his family other than Kate wearing a hairpiece, Charles looking bad, William and their kids looking miserable when out of camera sight and Camilla stumbling around looking possessed .
It’s hilarious that some keen fans believes she does all the cooking and cleaning at Adelaide cottage. Ingrid probably promotes that spin for the keens.
Still going off of almost 10 year old gossip when Wills and Keen livid at a “small cottage” when he was a helicopter pilot just after they got married and they “did their own grocery shopping and cooking”. It’s ridiculous they continue to play the “Kate is just like you and cooks all of the meals” when that woman has no clue on how to cook.
It’s amazing the mileage you can get from a sighting outside Waitrose.
Which was also a lie. It was a four bed farmhouse on the private estate of one of the wealthiest men Wales, Sir George Meyrick. W&K had four staff at that house, including full-time cook and housekeeper.
And last year we had all those photos of Kate ‘decorating’ the ‘Christmas trees’ (hey, I can do that, too!) for ‘her’ carol service. As though she did all the decorations herself. 🙄
“Meghan says it’s important for her that Archie and Lilibet can have ‘connective memories’ of Thanksgiving and Christmas at home and enjoy the traditions like putting out ‘carrots for the reindeer.” Um, when did she say this? It’s usually putting out cookies and milk for Santa. I don’t know about anyone else’s household but building gingerbread houses was not something we did.
Meghan actually did say that about the carrots and their Thanksgiving and Christmas plans in that Marie Claire interview she did a little while ago. And that’s something that I realized. These people try to make it seem like they have some insider track, and they really don’t. They take the four or five things that Harry or Meghan say in a legitimate interview and then create entire story lines around it for months. And unless I’m misremembering, wasn’t Meghan literally decorating the tree in Canada in the docu series on the ladder? It’s no exclusive that she would do it herself, or any indication that is because she’s trying to present some image you have literally seen her decorate the tree before. They people have no sources of insight.
https://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/royals/meghan-markle-exclusive-interview-welcome-project/
Thanks for this, Dee(2).
Yes she was decorating the tree in that scene.
That Marie-Claire article is great! Meghan is just such a good person.
@Dee(2): as a lifelong consumer of gossip (something I got from my mom), this is something I noticed a long time ago. Celebrities would give interviews to support upcoming projects, or authors to promote their upcoming books, etc., then the gossip rags would present this info–quoting the celebs’ words, no less!–as though they interviewed themselves. They even use the word ‘exclusive’! See any issue of the Daily Fail for examples.
@BeanieBean, LOL, too true (re: especially your last 2 sentences). Richard/Maureen Eden gets a 1st place prize in his use of “exclusive” & “I can finally reveal” bs.
Ingrid C-word, member of the club that gave opinions on the Oprah interview before seeing it, knows nothing. Harry said in SPARE about Levin depending on him for a paycheck-they all do. And, it’s gross, that they all do.
Will forever love Kate Beckinsale’s takedown of Eden (it applies to all the RR’s/BM).imo
Lohttps://www.pajiba.com/celebrities_are_better_than_you/kate-beckinsale-slams-the-daily-mail-for-falsifying-exclusive-story-regarding-her-mothers-illness.phpve this article.
Uh, we were never thoughtful towards the reindeer–never heard of leaving them carrots. When we were young, we did do the cookies and milk and s note thanking Santa. After all, we’d just spent weeks baking. And in my family, we did make (ugly, but yummy) gingerbread houses held together with egg whites snd sugar and decorated with candy. We also strung popcorn and cranberries that could stay in the tree and feed the birds after Xmas.
*Gasps and clutches chest* You never left a carrot out for Rudolph? Shame on you! 😉 😆
In our house it was a mince pie and sherry for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolph. 🙂
We left them carrots. And cookies and eggnog for Santa (the adult kind). We had a lot of fun making and decorating the cookies.
We always made cookies for Santa and left carrots for the reindeer. And now there’s the added elf on the shelf tradition which to me is creepy but the kids enjoy? We do gingerbread decorating contests but with the premade houses from the box. Ain’t nobody really eating them so it’s pretty wasteful. Your houses sound much nicer @ ml
We left a carrot for the reindeer, and I continued the tradition with my son. It was fun and cute.
Did no one leave out cheese for Santa Mouse?
Okay yes! We left for the mice too😂. No idea where we got that but we did?? It’s a lot. Just waiting till we have to feed Santa’s lizard or something.
For us it was carrots for the reindeer and a glass of sherry for FC.
We were a fruit mince pie, sherry for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph.
Carrots? Never heard of anyone I know do that.
Gingerbread houses were never a part of our Christmas traditions, either. I do enjoy going to gingerbread house exhibits, and decorated Christmas tree exhibits. They’re usually fundraisers during the holidays. As for the ‘rows and rows’ of pines, shoot, they live near the LP (Los Padres National Forest); if they really want, they can get a Christmas tree permit & get one themselves. I think my family did that one year (and one year only, my dad did that as a teenager for extra money, cutting down trees & didn’t really want to do that as an adult).
Ingrid s talking about harry and Meghan not wanted there is ironic. She’s talking deranger language that nobody wants them. Plus harry and Meghan are not going back
Except the little tidbit about the invitation to Althrop for Christmas. I actually hope the blind squirrel got that nut right. I do think the Spencers have shown time and again that they will be there for Harry and Meghan and the children and that they will always be welcomed. Harry stayed at Althorp on one of his visits. I would guess that he wants his children to see and know Althorp and that the Spencers would welcome that. What Brit is in those kids will be Spencer and not Windsor.
I would love it if the Sussex’s were at Althrope and no one ever found out! Maybe they’ll be there to ring in the New Year!
As if Meghan confides in ingrid.
Harry and Meghan need a nice family Christmas at their home. When you look at their archwell impact report on their website they have been extremely busy answering supported lots of charities as well as filming for Netflix. They don’t need to pat themselves on the back with a big documentary for earthshot to show all he’s accomplished like William LOL.
I don’t think gingerbread houses are a particularly American tradition. Didn’t they they start in Germany and the UK? Now, if she’d said, “Then, Harry and Meghan would have gone shopping on Black Friday…”
Exactly, gingerbread houses are one of many crafts or traditions some people do. Black Friday would’ve demonstrated real insight.
Eurydice: The houses are a German tradition, beginning around 1800, inspired by Grimms fairytale Hänsel und Gretel.
Here in the former colonies, most families have different Christmas traditions which they follow. And I’m guessing that most British families have Christmas traditions which look nothing like the royals’ at Sandringham.
Nah, I’m sure all British families go pheasant hunting on Boxing Day
And weigh themselves before and after Christmas dinner, don’t forget the weighing, that most charming custom.
The British press are so thirsty for information about how Harry and Meghan celebrate Christmas that they’ve paid Ingrid Seward to fantasize about it. I’m sure she watched the Netflix docuseries to get some ideas. There’s a scene of Meghan decorating the Christmas tree in it.
This is all extremely desperate, and it shows.
Ingrid prides herself on being the person who knows the royals inside out, she “has the access” and actually acts like she’s part of the royals’ inner circle. Gurl, pleeeze. You ain’t it Ingrid, and everyone but you knows it, apparently.
She shows by articles like this, that she’s an inveterate liar who imagines she has a closer parasocial relationship with the BRF than she really has.
Ingrid is a self-deluded harridan who desperately wishes she had any access to the Sussexes at all.
She’s an absolute loser of a human being whom no one should ever take seriously. Her word is worthless.
Correction on that golden ticket: It involves gag gifts, not heartfelt family gifts (per Diana), being on parade and maligned by the media, a formal lunch without your children, a canned shoot and being drunk apparently. How festive. And not awkward to be around H&M for the “rest of the family”. Only a problem for C&C and W&K who are the ones who showed themselves the most when H&M were in the UK.
At the coronation the York sisters and their husbands were friendly to harry. It was Kate William Charles and Camilla not welcoming
I also saw at least one pic, in the UK Times souvenir magazine a week after the coronation, with both Princess Anne and her husband laughing and smiling with Harry
Seward is stupidly funny. Her readers are simply stupid. I can’t believe they still write that type of crap after 5 years away.
I think that it’s become “tradition” too by this point. It’s called the end of the year Sussex Christmas fantasy; to be promptly followed by the first Sussex story of the new year. I mean, they’re still trying to feast on Diana’s bones decades after her tragic death, so the Sussex made-up fairytales are still in their infancy.
This woman just talks out of her arse. It really is her little fantasy of what it must be like. KC really would love to see his grandchildren? lol no
I mean, really.
“She will have …made the gingerbread house as is traditional…”
Does anyone ever call out this “journalist” and ask who her sources are for these assumptions or is she just making it all up?
I think in Spare Harry wrote about decorating their Christmas tree? He said, they have come across ornaments with QE2 and bought it for their tree. Then, Archie accidentally broke it while trying to get it from tree and put water over it in order to fix the broken piece and Meghan told him not to put water on the granny or something like that 😂😂😭 I am gonna guess they are still decorating their own tree.
Thanks Kaiser! ” Look at me, I can do the same thing as Seward: it is believed that Harry,………” LOL!
Ingrid Seward just does not know anything what Harry and Meghan do as the rest of the BM. She has to pick stuff from interviews or other publications by Meghan and Harry and mix it with guesses based on the assumed traditions Meghan and Harry grew up with.
I hope Harry, Meghan, Archie, Lili and whoever celebrated Christmas with them had a great and peaceful Christmas, created new memories and traditions.
Decorating the tree is one thing because a lot of people have ornaments that are sentimental, but if I were rich I would 100% pay someone to put up all of the other decorations and lights (outdoor especially).
Filler. They said write about the Sussexes Christmas and seward said no prob.
Ingrid gets paid by the quote. As long as she writes her drivel, she gets her 500 pounds or whatever sad amount it is.
Meghan probably did do the decorations herself. The documentary showed her, Harry & Doria blowing up dozens of balloons & making cake for Archie’s birthday.
What a stupid thing for Seward to make a big deal about, though. People like Martha Stewart have staff to execute large projects. It doesn’t hurt any credibility.
Ingrid Seward again pretending she knows all about something she knows nothing about?
These “experts” aren’t really experts at anything, especially on American traditions. I think they are still confusing “Happy Holidays” with it only referring to Christmas and not being a broader and more inclusive celebration of all peoples family holidays and traditions. They seem to ignore the huge size and melting pot of what America is. Not everyone celebrates the same holidays or even Christmas the same way. I grew up putting cookies and milk out for Santa and later once I married and had kids we included my spouses family tradition of also putting out carrots for the reindeer. We tried gingerbread houses but it’s a waste since none of us like gingerbread, but that doesn’t mean that how we or anyone else celebrates is wrong. We don’t know who they celebrate with. We saw how full their home was for the Easter egg hunt, so whoever they celebrate with at least it’s with people who genuinely love them and their children. Something they would never get in Sandringham. I’m happy the Spencer’s are the real family they deserve. Every family celebrates their holiday with traditions and sometimes new and exciting ways for themselves and their children and them making their holidays special for Archie and Lilibet is all that matters as parents.
Yeah. “Happy holidays” on the company holiday card seems to have made Seward think Americans who celebrate Christmas wake up on Dec. 25th and say “season’s greetings” to their loved ones.
Her uninformed speculation about American Christmas is pretty comical.
OMG! “a singalong with a guitar.” Will they sing Kumbaya, My Lord around the fire? Just a teensy outdated view of the US.
That was in the Marie Claire article too. She’s just picked stuff out of that.
‘Hey kids! Let’s put on a show!’ (Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney reference)
Just another loony in the Royal Rota making up stories .
This is bottom of the barrel stuff .
Who honestly reads this rubbish .
Ingrid’s head would explode if H&M celebrated Kwanzaa, too — which I could see them including in their festivities.
(As for reindeer treats, we used to make reindeer food — oats, basically, and other bird-safe ingredients that our kids used to sprinkle on our lawn Christmas Eve.)
OMG that camel coat with the gloves! LOVE
Some people have multiple trees in their homes. Seward needs to watch YouTube to see how Americans decorate. I saw a channel the other day where this woman had two trees in her dinning room alone.
I bet Meghan did hire someone to decorate the house and the trees and maybe left one tree to decorate as a family