THEThe bucolic and serene image was chosen by William and Kate to convey, according to their assistants at Kensington Palace, a message of love, resilience and hope for the future. But their holiday greeting card almost caused another photographic scandal: a few minutes after being released on social media, it was deleted, only to reappear slightly modified. And luckily this time there were no gaffes.
Best wishes from William and Kate with a previously unpublished photo
In typical Royal greeting style, the card is placed on a background of Christmas lights with a photo – already seen – portraying the Princes of Wales and their three children happy and peaceful in a field near Sandringham. It was taken from video shot by their photographer friend Will Warr, who last September announced to the world the completion of the preventive chemotherapy that Kate had been forced to undergo for months.
This time there was no criticism for the princess
However, William and Kate risked incurring criticism similar to those made to the princess last spring, however the badly photoshopped photo for Mother’s Day. This time too the image was manipulated, but without too much drama.
The mystery of the missing postcard
A few minutes after the publication on social media, someone at Kensington Palace (perhaps the princess herself, an expert photographer?) changed his mind and deleted the post, by slightly modifying the image. Once it reappeared on the web, the photo was zoomed in more than the original, precisely to highlight the affection and sense of closeness that shines through from the closeness of the couple and their children George, Charlotte and Louis.
Kate with third child Louis in Westminster for a carol show, 6 December 2024 (Getty Images)
The festive touch of animated snowflakes
In a difficult year which saw the princess distance herself almost entirely from life at court to recover first from a difficult operation and then from long and difficult anti-tumor treatments, William and Kate’s message posted on all their social networks is deliberately simple: «We wish everyone a very happy Christmas»accompanied by a Christmas tree emoji. And by animated snowflakes that delicately descend on the image, immediately instilling a festive air.
William and Kate snub King Charles’ Christmas lunch
Despite not being an unpublished photo, the image immediately attracted positive messages from the couple’s fans, who defined it as perfect for the Christmas holidays. But while the card went viral, yesterday another mystery enveloped the festively decorated rooms of Buckingham Palace. Without warning, the Princes of Wales failed to show up at King Charles III’s traditional pre-Christmas lunch. The reason: have already started their holidays in Anmer Hall, their residence near Sandringham, located a few kilometers from London.
The Royal Family at Sandringham for Christmas 2023 (Samir Hussein/WireImage)
What the Waleses will do at Christmas
William, Kate and their children will remain at Anmer Hall, Norfolk, until early January, when they will return to Windsor, to their Adelaide Cottage, in time for the start of the new term. The Wales would also have liked to give up Charles’ Christmas at Sandringham, always very chaotic and crowded, but they thought better of it: they will join the rest of the Royal Family both on Christmas Eve, for the exchange of gifts, both the next day, for the usual walk to church and for the Christmas lunch with relatives.
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