Duchess Sophie and Prince Edward's unexpected sleeping arrangements at King Charles' private home
With the royal family occupying homes up and down the country, it makes sense that King Charles had an open invite for relatives who wanted to stay at Sandringham following his Christmas celebration.
Continuing his late mother Queen Elizabeth's tradition, the King and his wife Queen Camilla left behind their primary residence Clarence House in London to set up base in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty for the holidays.
He was joined by the likes of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three kids Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis; the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and their kids Lady Louise Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex; Mike and Zara Tindall and their daughters Mia and Lena; and Peter Phillips and his children Savannah and Isla.
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Alone, that takes the head count to 18 guests, not including Princess Anne, Princess Beatrice, Lady Sarah Chatto and more pictured attendees at the annual St Mary Magdalene church service. Meanwhile, William admitted he was expecting to celebrate Christmas with 45 others.
This would make for unusual sleeping arrangements at the royal home which "can fit about 16 to 18 people to have a sleepover comfortably," according to Rebecca English on Mail+'s Palace Confidential.
She added that the event "sounds more glamorous than it is," especially since Charles' brother Prince Edward and his wife Duchess Sophie were given unusual sleeping arrangements.
"In previous years I've been told that they've actually had to kick staff out of their quarters. And Edward and Sophie were put in some of the staff quarters because they had nowhere else to stay," Rebecca said.
Considering their family mansion is set within 51 acres of land and is rumoured to have a whopping 120 rooms, it would be quite a drastic change for the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.
The Mail's Richard Eden explained that it is hard to know exactly the arrangements behind closed doors at Sandringham since very little information has been shared about the King's "massive" estate.
"Sandringham is one of those private estates, it's huge I mean there are about 700 homes in total on the estate," he said. "In Sandringham House itself because it's a private residence we don't know exactly how many bedrooms there are," he added, before stating there are an estimated 30.
Absent royals
The only two guests who didn't attend the traditional royal Christmas celebrations in 2024 were Princess Eugenie, who was enjoying festivities with her husband Jack Brooksbank's family, and Prince Andrew, amid his connections to an alleged Chinese spy.
Speaking on HELLO!'s Christmas episode of A Right Royal Podcast, The Sun's royal editor Matt Wilkinson said of their absence: "I was wondering whether this is almost a York boycott of Christmas," adding: "If you start thinking about it, this whole family may have fallen out, possibly with the rest of the royals."
Commenting on Sarah's influence, HELLO!'s royal editor Emily Nash said: "Sarah Ferguson is the person who stepped in and told Andrew that this might be the right thing to do to not go and to spare the royal family's blushes."
On the other hand, fans were delighted to see several members of the royal family who have been suffering from ill health. Queen Camilla missed several key engagements before Christmas after recovering from a chest infection, while Kate stepped back from royal duties this year following her cancer diagnosis.
LOOK: King Charles' favourite home looks magical in gorgeous festive photo
