The Royal family gather each year at Sandringham on the Norfolk estate for their traditional Christmas celebrations, with the Princess of Wales having attended the festive gathering for many years now as a senior royal.Kate Middleton has been spotted nearly every year on the traditional walk to church however it has not always been the case.Royal traditions dictated according to reports in the Mirror that until someone was married into the institution they were generally unable to attend family occasions such as Christmas and Easter celebrations.
Kate didn't didn't join an official royal Christmas celebration alongside her husband Prince William and the rest of the family until 2011 the same year she tied the knot with the prince and became known then as the Duchess of Cambridge.However the tradition was questioned when sister-in-law Meghan Markle came into the picture with Prince Harry and was allowed to join in the Christmas celebrations despite the former working Royals not being married at the time.It turns out according to a book the late Queen did invite Kate prior to her engagement to William although she turned the historic offer down, which came as the first time someone was invited to such an event before the couple were legally binding. Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. Robert Lacey claims in his biography Battle of Brothers that the monarch broke away from the usual tradition to extend Kate an invitation marking the first time an unregistered partner would attend the family's traditional Christmas lunch in 2006.But Kate, who was 24 at the time, is reported to have declined the historic request.
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