Why the Royal Family's Christmas at Sandringham Really Isn't a Glamorous Affair
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The royal family’s annual trip to Sandringham to spend Christmas week together always sounds like such a glamorous affair, but experts are now revealing that the Norfolk house isn’t exactly a five-star situation. It’s more about the bonding experience rather than a luxurious vacation.
When King Charles III and Queen Camilla have their kids and grandkids over, “Sandringham can fit about 16 to 18 people to have a sleepover comfortably,” per the Daily Mail‘s Rebecca English. If they run out of space, “they’ve actually had to kick staff out of their quarters,” she told the media outlet. Who was the unlucky couple getting smaller quarters? Well, look no further than the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
“Edward and Sophie were put in some of the staff quarters because they had nowhere else to stay,” she claimed. “It sounds more glamorous than it is.” Actually, it doesn’t sound like that much fun with the reported “creaky bedsprings” and drafty rooms. While there are other nearby royal properties for the guests to stay in, everyone seems to pile into Sandringham instead.
The apartments at Kensington Palace are reportedly more up-to-speed when it comes to royal family accommodations, but Kate Middleton wasn’t a fan of living in London. Omid Scobie wrote in his 2023 book, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival, that the Princess of Wales felt like a “cage animal” living there.
“Kensington Palace served them well, but the parents to the second, third, and fourth in line to the throne felt it was time to find something less in the middle of everybody else’s business,” Scobie wrote. “At times, one of the couple’s senior aides told me in 2016, Kate commented that it made them feel ‘a bit like caged animals,’ due to its heaving central London location and the fact that it was surrounded by tourists in one of the city’s busiest parks.”
It’s why she and Prince William high-tailed it to Adelaide Cottage in the summer of 2022 “to live a more ‘normal’ life” with their three children. The couple reportedly still has their eyes on Royal Lodge, but for now, Prince Andrew is going to stay put and refuse King Charles’ offer to downsize to Frogmore Cottage.
The royal family real estate shuffle never gets boring!
Before you go, click here to see the 100 best photos of the royal family from the past 20 years.