Gosh , they don't look well.

[fedup33]

With the exection of Sophis in blue and B's husband, I'm sorry but the Royals look ill and sad. It's a shame.

Where did it take place?

At St Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham, of course. The same as the 11am service. If it’s not on the church website it may well have been a private service to which only regular parishioners, including the Royal Family, are invited?

Here’s a timestamped tweet from one Louis Beauchamp, who was waiting to greet the family at the 11am service, from 9.02am on Christmas morning, showing the King and Queen and what looks like Princess Anne, Tim Lawrence and Peter Phillips having attended an earlier service (my own church has an 8am service on Christmas morning - a spoken Eucharist only, with no hymns. It’s quite common in the Church of England, I believe). Anyway, Louis explained in his series of tweets that the gates to the church grounds are closed until 10am when they let the well-wishers in, so they could only view attendees at the early service through the gates.

Here’s a timestamped tweet from one Louis Beauchamp, who was waiting to greet the family at the 11am service, from 9.02am on Christmas morning, showing the King and Queen and what looks like Princess Anne, Tim Lawrence and Peter Phillips having attended an earlier service

So not most, if not all of them, then and seemingly confirming the later mass attendance as being somewhat staged.

Or many younger members of the rf have young families no doubt excited about presents first thing on Christmas morning, so attending church later seems like a sensible idea.

There has usually been a eucharistic service first thing. They have been pictured many years going to it. Not so nicely dressed. Perhaps it wasn't on this year.

Your post seems to be missing the words “Thank you for providing the information I asked for”, CathyorClaire. An oversight, I’m sure. 😀

Don't a lot of people go to church at Christmas and Easter? It's been part of the culture here for decades, hence the phrase 'high days and holidays' church going.

I assume it's also a dying tradition but it explains why the royals have it as part of their traditions, see also Easter at St George's Chapel.

There's certainly a lot of that about at the moment.

Also, you’ve misquoted me. Please don’t. I said:

“Except the “trivial detail” is that most, if not all of them, would still be attending church on Christmas Day even if there were no photographers there at all”

I didn’t say “most if not all of them” had attended the earlier service. I said they’d likely attend Church on Christmas Day even if there are no photographers there. Which is, in my opinion, likely to be the case.

Thanks for links? Hmmm. Pretty sure I've posted unacknowledged links for you in the past but whatever.

I should have been clear that the 'trivial detail' I was referring to was the practice of telephoning paps to ensure snaps which obviously isn't the case here.

I don't think I've misqouted your actual words which appear in your own copied quote but I do dispute the likelihood of the majority trotting along of their own accord as per my post upthread. Your timestamped tweet bears this out but really as there is never likely to be a camera free Christmas trip to church we're never going to know.

You asked “Where did [the early Christmas Day service] take place?”, having suggested it must have been before the tv crews arrived at 4am, and linking to the parish website. I presume, implying that it hadn’t happened. I suspected your question was disingenuous, but nonetheless showed you a time stamped text explaining where and when the service took place.

Going back to the question of the thread, I note with wry amusement that today a poster on twitter (with sussex squad in their username, there’s a surprise) has posted footage of Kate taken on Christmas Day 2013 - when she wore the same hat as she wore to church this year. In the footage Kate was saying that George was with a nanny. The user has posted this as “confirmation” directly from Kate that she and William are separated and their children are being cared for by nannies.

Unfortunately for the poster, while the hat is the same, Kate wore different earrings in 2013, and so it can easily be identified as footage from 11 years ago. Unsurprisingly therefore, it was then 5-month old George who was back home with a nanny while his parents were at church.

It hasn’t stopped the credulous Twitter squad lapping it up, but if 11-year old footage of Kate can be used now on the basis it was taken last week, without people noticing that she looks obviously older, she clearly wasn’t looking too bad on Christmas Day…

You asked “Where did [the early Christmas Day service] take place?”, having suggested it must have been before the tv crews arrived at 4am, and linking to the parish website. I presume, implying that it hadn’t happened. I suspected your question was disingenuous, but nonetheless showed you a time stamped text explaining where and when the service took place.

Yeah, I know. I got a bit sidetracked 😁

It was supposed to be a tongue in cheek post and I wasn't expecting a measured response but there we go.

Royals, eh? Who'd have 'em? 😉

I was raised Catholic and attended mass weekly as a child. As an adult, I am not a practicing Catholic but I try to live a moral life. It's possible to lead a moral life without being a follower of organized religion.

Crowds make me nervous (attended too many protests in my youth) and I would never stand around to see the RF. However, if people want to spend their time doing so and want to spend money on chocolate for the kids, that is their right. We all spend money on something - takeout food, clothing, alcohol, drugs, Uber - that other people will criticize.

I work in public service. Holidays are a time when miserable people dump on public servants in NYC because they pay our salaries and think they have the right to do so. If the RF didn't go to church, they would be criticized. When they do go to mass, they are criticized for being too aloof and for spending time with their family members. I've gained a new understanding of life under the Puritans in the early days of the US.

@BemusedAmerican most people would not care if they did not go to church if Charles was not the Head of the Church of England

Yeah, where's disestablishmentarianism when you need it?

Who's to say that other family members are not quietly communing with God at home? Wasn't the whole point of the Protestant Reformation that a person could communicate with God directly and read Scripture in a language that they understood rather than rely on another person to serve as their conduit to God? Private worship rather than public pomp?

Would be good if it happened

Robert Hardman claimed William had no real interest in the Church of England

And ironically the RF is going to church, greeting people who want to see them ( including American tourists) and politely taking items that are later donated to charity. While dressed in warm, conservative clothing and with properly behaved children.

The last King of England who got called the "Defender of the Faith" was Henry VIII. He then broke with that faith, started a new religion, and made himself the head of it. Lots of people ended up dead or pretty miserable. William seems to be focusing on ending homelessness. Sounds like a better option for you Brits

Given only 46% of people in England now say they are Christian, it is anachronistic for the Church of England to have a privileged position within our governance structure.

Well, in the US, churches have tax advantages:

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/are-churches-always-exempt.html

Religious organizations in the UK often qualify for charitable status, which affords them several tax advantages. To be recognized as a charity, an organization must primarily engage in activities deemed to be for the public benefit, such as the advancement of religion.

In the US churches are not part of their system of governance. They have separation of religion and state that we do not have.

In theory.

It's on a very, very back burner, because it's got 9 or 10 syllables and you know that most English people get frightened when they see words longer than the Anglo-Saxon four letter words.

I am English and I am speaking about the Church of England, before I'm accused of attacking any other people or denominations.
?"Psst, don't go to church. They use words like 'thine inestimable love' so you can't make ote of their mumbo-jumbo".

I see the discussion has broadened. To be honest, I find it staggering that the King is still happy to go publicly to Church and be called the "Supreme Governor of the Church of England" considering the recent revelations.