Want to feast like a royal? You first need to know what's on the menu. Here's what the royal family Christmas dinner entails, according to a former royal chef.
What the Royal Family Eats on Christmas Day, According to Their Personal Chef
Updated on Apr. 04, 2025
When it comes to ringing in the Christmas holiday, the British royal family’s traditions are not that far from ours. Decorating trees, exchanging gifts, mailing cards and sitting down for a royal family Christmas dinner—you name it, they do it. But it’s safe to assume the royal Christmas festivities aren’t exactly like the family gatherings in our own living rooms. After all, royalty tends to turn everything into a fancy affair, and there are tons of royal etiquette rules to follow, even during the jolly season.
“Holiday traditions are very important to the royal family, and Christmas is the most important celebration, as the monarch is Defender of the Faith,” Ingrid Seward, a prolific royal biographer who personally knows the royal family, tells Reader’s Digest. “These traditions are set in stone.”
British chef Darren McGrady, who spent 16 years cooking for the royal family, also emphasizes the royals’ love of tradition. “It was the same meal every year,” he told Hello! magazine. “They’re actually boring when it comes to festivities.” Of course, that’s all relative, because the food and the celebrations sound pretty darn fabulous to us commoners!
So what’s on the royal family’s Christmas itinerary? We’ve got all the details on the holiday festivities from McGrady, Seward and acclaimed royal expert and etiquette coach Laura Windsor, who was trained by a former royal family staff member. Read on to find out how the royals celebrate, what the royal family Christmas dinner looks like and if there have been any changes since King Charles III took the throne.
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How does the royal family spend Christmas?
The British royal family spends Christmas together at Sandringham, a royal estate northeast of London, according to Seward. A favorite of Queen Elizabeth II, it’s where her father, King George VI, died and where she used to stay from the holidays to the anniversary of his passing on Feb. 6.
A week before all senior royals make their way to the royal estate up north, the Christmas celebrations traditionally kick off at London’s Buckingham Palace, with a festive luncheon for the extended family. In 2022 and 2023, the royal family Christmas lunch was moved to Windsor Castle, due to an extensive renovation project at Buckingham Palace, but they were back in the palace for 2024.
On Dec. 24, the close-knit family arrives in Sandringham. “The royals are assigned different arrival slots based on their rank. The more important you are, the later you’ll arrive,” Windsor explains. “Kate and William, as the most senior members after the hosts, King Charles and Queen Camilla, are the last ones to join.”
Once everyone has settled, it’s time to enjoy some family bonding—and indulge in lots of food. Here’s the royals’ festive itinerary:
Christmas Eve
The celebration starts with a traditional afternoon tea at Sandringham Saloon, followed by a black-tie dinner. That’s right: A royal Christmas Eve means elegant dresses for the ladies and tuxedos for the men.
Christmas Day
While the royal Christmas traditions are partially for celebration, they’re also “a public show of unity,” Seward says. These highly photographed occasions are meant to convey a sense of cohesiveness among the royals. And this is why Christmas morning begins with a family trip to the nearby St. Mary Magdalene Church to attend the mass and meet British citizens. After the royal family’s Christmas lunch, everyone watches the king’s prerecorded Christmas speech at 3 p.m. Then, Windsor says, there’s afternoon tea and some free time, during which the royals like to go on walks or play games such as charades.
The highlight of the day is the buffet-style royal family Christmas dinner, which kids and adults enjoy separately. “Children eat in the nursery with their nannies until they are about 9 or 10 years old and know how to properly behave at the table,” Windsor says.
McGrady has called the tradition “your modern-day Downton Abbey,” referring to the British historical television series.
Boxing Day
The third day brings more food: a hearty breakfast, followed by lunch and another British Christmas dinner known as the “last supper.” In between the foodie feasts, the royals go hunting, horseback riding or walking around the winter wonderland that is Sandringham.
To end the holiday celebrations, the family participates in a lighthearted tradition: “It’s a joke within the family that people weigh themselves upon arrival and again before they leave on Boxing Day,” Windsor reveals. “It’s to measure whether they’ve eaten enough. The queen loved this tradition.”
It seems safe to say that the royals—like many of us—might put on a pound or two at Christmastime.
Who gets an invite to Christmas dinner?
All senior royals and their kids—as Windsor puts it, “the nearest and dearest”—are invited to the royal family Christmas dinner. Here are the most important members joining the festivities:
- Charles and Camilla, the official hosts and the ones deciding who will (and who won’t) get a Christmas invite
- William, Kate and their children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis
- Camilla’s two children, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, and five grandchildren
- Princess Anne and her children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall, and grandchildren
- Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh; his wife, Sophie; and their children, Lady Louise Windsor and James Wessex
- Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson
- Princess Beatrice; her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi; her two daughters, Sienna and Athena; and her stepson, Wolfie
- Princess Eugenie; her husband, Jack Brooksbank; and their two sons
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who famously cut ties with the Firm in 2020, are reportedly not on the Christmas guest list—and they did not make an appearance at the 2024 Christmas celebrations.
What does the royal family eat on Christmas?
As we’ve already seen, food plays a major role in the royals’ Christmas celebrations. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely we’ll ever get invited to the royal family Christmas dinner, so we’ll never get the chance to try the delights firsthand. But we can take inspiration from their feast.
McGrady, who’s now based in the United States, cooked for the royal family from 1982 to 1998, designing and executing their day-to-day menus and catering their official and private events, including Christmas lunches and dinners. He’s spoken in the past about what the royal family Christmas dinner entails, so keep reading to get insider information from both him and Windsor.
Christmas breakfast
During their time in Sandringham, the royals enjoy two Christmas breakfasts, one on Dec. 24 and the other on Dec. 25. “Eggs, mushrooms, kipper, grilled kidneys and bacon are on the menu for the men,” while the women get “a light breakfast of sliced fruit, half a grapefruit, toast and coffee,” McGrady reveals.
The divided menu isn’t the royals’ only bizarre eating habit. As Windsor points out, men and women not only eat different things but also enjoy their breakfasts separately.”The women might choose to get it sent to their rooms, as they take longer than the men to get ready for the day,” she says.
Christmas lunch
Christmas lunch is served on Christmas Eve and is quite similar to the American Thanksgiving dinner. “They didn’t do hams or anything, just traditional turkeys,” McGrady says. “We did three turkeys for the queen and her family in the royal dining room, one for the children’s nursery and then more for the 100 or so staff, so everyone had a Christmas lunch.”
Apart from the turkeys, the royals enjoy “traditional sides, such as parsnips, carrots, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts,” Windsor adds. She says the lunch on Boxing Day is slightly lighter, with sausages, salads and soups on the menu.
Christmas afternoon tea
The royals enjoy two festive afternoon teas, during which they indulge in both sweet and savory treats. “They have sandwiches, scones, ham and cheese, coronation chicken (diced chicken in a creamy curry sauce), ginger and fruit cakes,” Windsor tells Reader’s Digest. Earl Grey tea is the royals’ drink of choice to accompany the food.
Christmas dinner
Dinner on Christmas Day is, of course, the main event. It is served buffet-style, so the royals can pick whatever they fancy (or sample the full deal).
“There are 15 to 20 foods to choose from,” says Windsor. The foodie feast features a variety of roasted meats carved right at the table (think: standing rib roast, turkey and ham), seafood, cooked vegetables, gingerbread cookies, a flaming Christmas pudding served with brandy butter, and libations like cherry brandy and hard cider.
According to McGrady, these are some of the royals’ all-time-favorite festive dinner items:
- Potted shrimp: A buttery spread made with chopped, seasoned and cooked shrimp, this dish is served on toast points.
- Beef bourguignon: This could be made with venison instead, something the late queen expressed a preference for at times.
- Shredded Brussels sprouts with onions and bacon: Hold the garlic! It’s on the list of banned foods for royals.
- Bubble and squeak: A traditional British dish with an admittedly funny name, this contains mashed potatoes mixed with chopped cabbage. McGrady added kale to it for a health boost.
- Stilton cheese: McGrady fondly remembers the royals’ love for cheese. “They’d have a whole Stilton cheese,” he says. “We’d take the top off, pitchfork the top and pour port into it. It made this gorgeous spread for the crackers.”
- Date-apple pastry: A simple and rustic baked dessert, this is made with dates and apples rolled in the dough.
It goes without saying that it takes an army of staffers to prepare all the Christmas breakfasts, lunches and dinners. But according to Windsor, “much can be prepared in advance, so only a hand-picked kitchen team will be present over the holidays.”
Tradition is very important to the royal family, Seward says, and food is a big part of that. Since the food is a nod to traditional British cuisine, the chefs go to great effort to use locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
How is Christmas dinner different under Charles than it was under Elizabeth?
Many time-honored royal traditions are still going strong, but since King Charles took the throne, the royal Christmas dinners have become bigger affairs with more guests—and the menu has been slightly adapted, reflecting the king’s mission to play his part in protecting the planet. “Charles is a long-term activist for all things environment and sustainability, so when it comes to festive dinners, there’s now an even stronger emphasis on using organic and local produce,” says Windsor.
What’s more, certain foods, such as foie gras (the liver of a goose or duck that has been fattened by force-feeding), have been banned. The production of the controversial French delicacy has been forbidden in the U.K. since 2006, but imports are still allowed. However, Charles announced in 2022 that foie gras would no longer be served in any of the royal palaces.
And the king didn’t just change the menu of the royal family Christmas dinner. According to British media, he also moved the feast from the dining room at Sandringham to the larger ballroom to accommodate additional guests. That went so well that they decided to stick with the ballroom for Christmas 2024 too.
Some of the extra invites went to Camilla’s family. “Before Charles took over, she had to get away and come back amidst the festivities to see her kids and grandchildren,” Windsor says. “Now, they’re all celebrating Christmas together.”
When does the royal family open their gifts?
Unlike most British (and American) families, the royals exchange their Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. This Christmas Eve tradition has its roots in the family’s German heritage. King George I, who reigned from 1714 to 1727, was German, as was Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III (who reigned from 1760 to 1801); her daughter-in-law, Princess Victoria; and her son-in-law, Prince Albert.
“The gifts are displayed on festive trestle tables on Christmas Eve and opened after the afternoon tea and before the black-tie dinner,” explains Windsor.
Harry himself described the scene in his memoir, Spare: “We were at Sandringham in a big room with a long table covered with white cloth and white name cards. By custom, at the start of the night, each of us located our place, stood before our mound of presents. Then suddenly, everyone began opening at the same time. A free-for-all, with scores of family members talking at once and pulling at bows and tearing at wrapping paper.”
When it comes to Christmas gifts, the royals seem to give their stiff upper lip a break—royal biographers revealed that they love their joke presents. Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claim in their Harry and Meghan bestseller Finding Freedom that Harry once gifted his grandmother a shower cap emblazoned with the phrase “Ain’t life a b****,” while his brother surprised her with a pair of slippers that had her face embroidered on them. Princess Anne reportedly once gifted Charles a leather toilet seat.
What other Christmas traditions do the royals have?
There’s no Christmas without Christmas cards! The reigning monarch sends out around 750 Christmas cards a year featuring a portrait of King Charles and Queen Camilla. They go out to family, friends and palace staff, and each is hand-signed by Charles and Camilla. Who else sends out Christmas cards? Prince William and Princess Kate; Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex; and Princess Anne and Sir Timothy Laurence. They also release a public version of these cards online.
William and Kate continued their tradition of using a candid family shot with their children, rather than a formal posed picture. Harry and Meghan’s picture highlighted their philanthropic work over the past year and did not feature their children, likely for privacy reasons. And Princess Anne’s card featured a charming “then and now” comparison, for a nostalgic feel.
And there’s more: The monarch’s staff also receives presents. The late queen was known to hand out some of them personally, and it’s pretty likely that Charles has kept up the tradition. In addition, about 1,500 Christmas puddings are distributed to the royals’ staff, while several churches around the country, including Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and schools in Sandringham receive Christmas trees.
The royals also donate money to several charities in Windsor every Christmas.
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Reader’s Digest has published hundreds of stories on the British royal family, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating facets of the monarchy. We regularly cover topics including the latest royal news, the history and meaning behind time-honored traditions, and the everyday quirks of everyone’s favorite family members, from Queen Elizabeth’s daily snack to Prince William’s confessions about his home life. We’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on the royal family Christmas dinner, Astrid Hofer tapped her experience as a London-based journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering topics including the British royal family. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Ingrid Seward, royal biographer, author of My Mother & I: The Inside Story of the King and Our Late Queen and editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine; email interview, March 18, 2025
- Laura Windsor, royal expert; Zoom interview, Oct. 15, 2024
- Hello: “Inside the royal family’s surprising Christmas Day menu – and King Charles serves a dish you’d never expect”
- Spare by Prince Harry
- Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand
- Marie Claire: “Here’s a list of everything that the royal family eats on Christmas Day”
- The Independent: “What does the royal family eat at Christmas?”
- The Independent: “What traditions does the royal family have for Christmas?”
- The Independent: “King Charles bans foie gras from all royal residences”
- ITV: “All change for family Christmas at Sandringham—but still no Harry and Meghan”
- Newsweek: “When does the royal family exchange Christmas gifts?”
- Royal.uk: “The Royal Family at Christmas”
