If you thought Christmas with your in-laws was awkward, daunting, or both, spare a thought for Meghan Markle.
The soon-to-be royal will be spending this Christmas with her fiancé, Prince Harry and the royal family. And gee, it sounds… fraught.
But what exactly happens on Christmas Day when you’re royal? Will it be the weirdest, most intimidating experience of Meghan’s life? Thanks to some Googling and speculation thorough investigation, we now know what Meghan is in for on December 25.
And she’s going to need a stiff drink or three to get through it.
The festivities will kick off for Meghan on Christmas Eve, when she’ll trek it up to Sandringham House, the Queen’s country estate in Norfolk. But she can’t just waltz in at any time and dump her duffle bag in the room with the biggest bed. She needs to time her entrance after the Queen, who gets in early to check all the silverware has been appropriately polished, but before pretty much everyone else.
Why? Because the royals arrive according to how important they are. Should she get there too early, she might catch Liz in her dressing gown, but too late, and her in-laws might think she thinks she’s better than them all. No one likes the standoffish new fiancée, right?
It’s going to be kind of awkward anyway, because Kate wasn’t allowed to go to Christmas until her and Wills were married, not engaged like Meghan and Harry. Kate knows it. Wills knows it. Meghan knows it. There will be tension. They will politely smile through it, and laugh about it next year.
Then, at precisely 4pm – literally, the moment the hundreds of clocks presumably at Sandringham chime in unison – the entire family should magically materialise in the White Drawing Room. Here’s hoping she has a map.