Prince William and Kate Middleton risked appearing to snub King Charles and Britain’s minor royals Thursday as they skipped the monarch’s traditional pre-Christmas lunch with the extended royal family at Buckingham Palace.
One source, a former courtier, told The Daily Beast: “It is another example of the couple’s growing confidence when it comes to challenging some long-established traditions which they are widely believed to consider tiresome. Charles would have liked them to be there, and the fact that he was either unwilling or unable to insist on it shows his inability to maintain family discipline. You can’t imagine anyone missing it when Prince Philip was around.”
The couple’s spokesperson declined to comment, though a friend of the couple pushed back against the courtier’s characterization of events, saying: “It’s categorically not a snub. They have had a full-on year and I don’t think anyone can expect Catherine to be effectively hosting lunch for hundreds of people.”
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An official source said the prince and princess had been through “an incredibly tough year” and that the family simply “wanted to start Christmas in Norfolk earlier than usual.”
Kate was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. She has since said she is “cancer-free.”
Shortly after they would have been due to arrive a the lunch, the couple revealed their annual Christmas card to be a picture taken from the video they released announcing the end of Kate’s chemotherapy treatment. The image showed William, Kate, and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis with their arms around one another and was inscribed: “Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.”
The couple made the decision not to attend the lunch some time ago, reports said. The lunch was initiated by Queen Elizabeth II some 40 years ago, partly to reassure individuals not invited to Sandringham for Christmas of the monarch’s affection, as the numbers receiving a coveted invite were steadily reduced from her father and grandfather’s day.
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson were also missing from the lunch Thursday after the disgraced prince was caught up in an international espionage and financial scandal.
It emerged last week that Andrew had befriended and formed a business partnership with Yang Tengbo, a wealthy Chinese citizen formerly resident in London who was subsequently banned from entering the U.K. on suspicion of being a Chinese spy.
Andrew will also now not join the royals for their Christmas Day celebrations. He has been cast back into the cold just a year after Sarah, his ex-wife with whom he still lives, was invited to join the royals for their public walk to church for the first time in over two decades.
Andrew’s daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, attended the lunch with their husbands, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank.
Eugenie’s 3-year-old son, August, was photographed arriving at the event asleep in the back of the car wearing a Santa hat.
Also present were Queen Camilla; Princess Anne and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence; and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. The king’s third cousin Lady Gabriella Windsor, whose husband died by suicide earlier this year, also attended.
