Meghan: A Hollywood Princess(68)
Though it was fresh and exciting for Meghan, Christmas at Sandringham has a regular soothing rhythm, like one of the many grandfather clocks that dominate the corridors. On Christmas Eve, following afternoon tea, the royal family open their presents, German style. Then it’s church on Christmas morning, to the main house for lunch, and then everyone watches the queen’s Christmas broadcast. Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, sees a pheasant shoot on the estate’s flat acres.
At four o’clock on Christmas Eve, all the family gathered in the wood-paneled drawing room for the queen’s favorite meal of the day, afternoon tea. Small sandwiches, home-baked scones, muffins, and cakes were on offer along with Earl Grey tea and the queen’s special Indian blend.
After a short rest, they all came together again in the white drawing room at six o’clock to open presents, which were laid out on cloth-covered trestle tables, with a name card marking each family member’s pile of goodies.
Princess Margaret’s ex-husband Lord Snowdon once described the scene as “total uproar” as everyone tore open their gifts. The royal adults don’t buy expensive presents but rather joke items or whimsical gifts. One year Harry gave the Queen a shower cap with the printed phrase “Ain’t life a bitch” on it. Another year he gave her a singing Big Mouth Billy Bass, which now has pride of place on the piano in her Balmoral study. In her day, Diana was once given a pair of false plastic bosoms while Princess Anne received a monogrammed doormat. One report suggested that Meghan got into the zany spirit, giving the Queen a singing hamster, which, apparently, the corgis eyed dolefully.
Once the merriment had subsided the family headed back to their bedrooms to dress for dinner—long dresses for the ladies, black tie for the men. At eight o’clock on the dot the family gather once more for pre-dinner drinks. The Queen arrives at 8:15 for her evening tipple, a dry martini.
The Duchess of York once recalled: “Christmas can be exhausting, not least because you sometimes change seven times in 24 hours. You never let the Queen beat you down for dinner, end of story—to come in any later would be unimaginably disrespectful.”
This Christmas Eve the banquet consisted of Norfolk shrimp, Sandringham estate lamb, and a pudding of tarte Tatin. During their starters, the family pulled another round of their bespoke crackers decorated with silver or gold crowns. Like everyone except the Queen, Meghan crowned herself with the paper hat.
On Christmas Day Meghan enjoyed a light breakfast with Harry, William, and Kate at Anmer Hall as George and Charlotte excitedly opened their presents.
Then it was over to the Big House for the walk to nearby St. Mary Magdalene Church. This year the Queen, age finally getting the better of her, arrived by car, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall.
Warned beforehand about the biting Norfolk winds, Meghan dressed stylishly but warmly in a Sentaler cream baby alpaca wool wrap coat, suede boots, and a brown beret-style hat. The three-thousand-strong crowd, some of whom had been waiting in the freezing conditions for hours, cheered as Meghan, Harry, William, and Catherine walked by. Meghan smiled, waved, and even playfully stuck her tongue out.
As luck would have it, the best photograph of the day was taken not by a professional cameraman but by single mother Karen Anvil, age thirty-nine, whose picture of the royal quartet easily paid for her own Christmas.
When they came out of church it was time for Meghan’s first public curtsy as the Queen walked back into her chauffeur-driven Bentley.
For the first time, Meghan looked visibly nervous, clinging to her fiancé’s arm as she dropped a wobbly bob, a rictus grin on her face. A smiling Kate—a seasoned veteran of such occasions—showed how it should be done, dropping the perfect relaxed curtsy.
Then it was time to thank those who had waited for so long. The most well-wishers could hope for was a handshake and a brief “Happy Christmas.”
Some, though, went further to win a moment in the royal sun. Among the crowd were a large number of Americans, some from a nearby US Air Force base. Student Michael Metz from Wisconsin used the occasion to propose to his Texan girlfriend Ashley Millican, the crowd cheering as Michael went down on one knee. When Harry and Meghan heard about their betrothal, they offered their congratulations. “It was amazing, like a fairy tale,” said Michael.
Back at the main house the royal family sat down for the traditional Christmas turkey and all the trimmings, the bountiful repast eaten within ninety minutes so that the family could watch the queen’s Christmas broadcast at three o’clock sharp. This year Meghan got an oblique shout-out when the Queen mentioned welcoming new arrivals into the family.
In the evening the television is turned off and the royal family plays traditional games such as charades. The Queen is an excellent mimic, particularly of political figures, including several American presidents whom she has met over the years.
On Boxing Day the royal men lead the guns out to the fields where hundreds of pheasants, specifically reared for this sport, are slaughtered. William and Harry love shooting—Princess Diana called her boys “the killer Wales”—and enjoy spending the day outdoors in field sports. Not this year. For the first time Harry left his guns in their cases. Perhaps he had already had his fill. He had been shooting in early December, flying to Germany for a weekend of boar hunting with a group of pals, the shooting party organized by German aristocrat Franz-Albrecht Oettingen-Spielberg, known as the Boar Terminator.