Prince George and Princess Charlotte walk hand-in-hand with William and Kate to first Sandringham service
PRINCE George and Princess Charlotte joined the Queen at at the Royal Family’s traditional Christmas Day church service for the first time.
George six, and four-year-old Charlotte walked the short distance from Sandringham House to St Mary Magdalene Church hand in hand with their proud parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Prince Charles walked alongside them.
One-year-old Prince Louis stayed at the house.
It comes after Prince William and Kate released a new photograph showing the duke kissing his youngest son, Louis, alongside George and Charlotte.
The picture was posted by Kensington Palace on Twitter with the message: “Merry Christmas to all our followers!”
The 93-year-old Queen, wearing a red coat and hat, arrived at the church in a maroon Bentley with the Duchess of Cornwall.
The Duke of Edinburgh, 98, who was discharged from hospital on Christmas Eve, was at Sandringham but did not attend church.
He had spent four nights at the King Edward VII Hospital in London to receive treatment for a “pre-existing condition”.
Philip, who retired from public duties in 2017, did not attend last year’s church service either despite being in good health at the time.
Meanwhile scandal-hit Prince Andrew, who has had a tumultuous end to the year after his disastrous appearance on the BBC’s Newsnight programme, walked side by side with Charles to a service at 9am but did not attend the main 11am service.
It was Andrew’s first public appearance since his car crash Newsnight interview where he failed to express any sympathy for the victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew said he did not regret having been a friend of Epstein, who killed himself in jail aged 66 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
The Duke was also ridiculed over his repeated denials of any sexual relationship with then 17-year-old Virginia Roberts.
He claimed he had taken his daughter Princess Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking on the night he is accused of sleeping with Roberts, a “sex slave” of Epstein.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were also absent this year, instead opting to spend seven-month-old Archie’s first Christmas with the Duchess’s mother, Doria Ragland, in Canada.
Others attending the main morning service included Princess Beatrice and her fiance, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
In her Christmas Day TV message the Queen will refer to her family’s “bumpy” 2019 and the nation’s Brexit divisions.
The year has been labelled her second “annus horribilis” – the Latin phrase she used to describe 1992 after the marriages of three of her children collapsed.
This time, son Prince Andrew, 59, has been mired in the scandal of his friendship with US paedo Epstein and claims he slept with a teen sex slave.
Husband Prince Philip, who was admitted to hospital after the speech was recorded, was involved in a car accident at the start of the year.
The duke faced criticism for taking too long to contact the occupants of the other car and for being seen driving without his seat-belt in the days that followed.
And the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spoken about their struggles living in the public eye.
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Brexit has divided the country and Parliament, leading to huge uncertainty.
Her Majesty’s comment is thought to be her first public reference to the personal events her family has experienced this year.
