Christmas Day walk in Sandringham

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This is such a strange thing....so the royal family walk along a stretch of path every year and people gather to watch them. These people try to talk to the Wales children and give them presents. They are photographing the children, taking selfies, etc. I think the kids are far too young to do this. It is so odd.

How on earth do William & Catherine think this is okay?!

The footage on YouTube and TikTok is really weird. Charlotte being asked for hugs from strangers. Who would do that? Some nutter telling George that Nanny Diana is proud of him. Louis snatching chocolate and seemingly having no manners.

Kate and William’s parenting has to be called into question here. Why are they allowing this to happen? They should keep their children away from the public because some are them are nut jobs. Hugging strangers is particularly worrying.

It is a seriously weird tradition and I have no idea why William and Kate subject their children to it. I would not have wanted my kids hugged, cuddled and photographed with some of the very peculiar people there.

One man is a huge Diana fan who was wearing a Tshirt covered in pictures now of Kate, he'd slept in a fold up chair from 7pm the night before. He seems to stalk Kate and William following them round anywhere he can see them, and told W last week he would be bringing a self portrait of himself painted in honour of Diana to give to him. Surely he needs some sort of intervention, but W was happy to introduce the three children to him.
Weird weird weird

I like the walk but I think the children should not interact with the crowd.

That's what I think too.

The walk itself is a cute Christmas tradition. Standing out in the cold waiting to wave at strangers wouldn't be my ideal way of spending Christmas morning, but each to their own.

However, it's turning into a bit of a circus where the children are concerned. The crowds should be told not to shout out the children's names and not to give them gifts, or they will be asked to leave. Kate and William should be holding onto the children's hands, Charlotte and Louis at least, and they should not be interacting with the visitors. I very much doubt there is any physical risk but the whole thing is a bit weird. And how do you tell a 7 year old that he can't actually eat the chocolates some stranger gave him, because they might be trying to poison him?

I think they're just interacting a bit with real people.
Also it's good to take small risks to the benefit of all involved.

Spot on.

It's all a bit at odds with the six mile exclusion zone imposed around the latest forever home isn't it?

People who camp overnight to give presents to these incredibly wealthy children are not my idea of 'real people'... Shouting at the children, wanting selfies with them is very strange. How would you feel if a stranger on the street wanted a selfie with your ten year old?

George did meet 'real people' at the homeless charity before Christmas - that's a good opportunity for them to meet people.

I like W & C but the footage from that walk has made me think they are not prioritising their children over royal family traditions. The children could have walked down the centre, without going to the sides. And people should not be allowed to bring gifts... Maybe these 'real people' could donate to a children's charity in lieu of giant chocolates and teddy's?

They do it because it’s the trade off for being Royal.

If no one cared about them at all they wouldn’t exist in the same fashion hence these walks, all the staged photo ops, planted stories etc.

Interesting- it has given me the ich

Giving the children presents is weird. It's not like accepting a bouquet. Somehow the royals need to make it clear (in advance) they shouldn't be taking gifts, especially food which will just be binned.

Perhaps I was a bit flippant.

The truth is that I haven't seen the footage of the walk which probably makes me unqualified to comment.

However, I suppose I had quite an unusual upbringing where we had all sorts of people to stay. (Mum and Dad were the overspill house for our priest when he ran out of room to accommodate people with nowhere to go in his own house.)

I do understand that just because some odd situations turned out well for me, they don't always.

The people who head to Sandringham at 8am in the cold weather to queue to look at them have a parasocial relationship with them I guess. They don’t want to donate to charity, they want to feel valued by interacting with this family they believe they know. Each to their own.
Kate seemed uncomfortable in the footage I saw but she was polite. They probably have a chuckle about them afterwards.
They should beef up security next year though. You can’t assume everyone is harmless.

A poster on the other thread said that the crowd was security checked, but how the fuck do you truly vet a bunch of incipient whackjobs bearing greasy-pawed selection boxes? I presume the children are giving some sort of ‘briefings’ before and after, aka therapeutic chats.

I made the point that a spectrometer would probably show up some interesting bodily fluids on a couple of those cuddly toys.

The entire spectacle is a vision of debasement all round, as painted by Hieronymus Bosch. That’s my reckon.

I grew up locally (10 minute drive) & my mum used to take me & my siblings every Christmas. In the 80’s there would be l50-100 people in the crowd & they’d all be local. There weren’t any TV cameras just the photographer from the local paper. Kids would give a bunch of flowers to the queen & that was it. I last went in 2012 & it was completely different, hundreds of people pushing, shoving & shrieking. Really weird. Now people are travelling from all over the country for it & it’s become something between a zoo & a circus with really weird audience participation.

The people who head to Sandringham at 8am in the cold weather to queue to look at them have a parasocial relationship with them I guess. They don’t want to donate to charity, they want to feel valued by interacting with this family they believe they know.

Exactly this

This can't be true. I live within 6 miles of that house and I'm not excluded! It is close to a main road and would take out the whole of Windsor! Yes they live in a secure part of WGP but the rest of Windsor is very normal and they don't impact on us at all.

And yet again a deletion, even though I’m only extrapolating from the behaviours of the royal superfans described by @simpsonthecat and @ItsStillChristmas. I suppose it must hurt to see something you think of as a normal behaviour regarded as a symptom.

I'm unfamiliar with the area but this is how it's being described in press reports today.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/2150989/prince-william-kate-home-security

@SwanNecked I didn't see your deletions so I don't know what you said...

As far as people there at 8am, yes there are those, but a lot camp out overnight. And some fly in from abroad. Get a life!

I saw some footage made by an attendee when the older Royals were walking by and all they wanted to see were the children "where's the children, I want to see the children" they were saying whilst clutching their selection boxes and peering up the path.
Revolting. Do ALL these people not have families? I would be serious pissed off if my gran/mum/child/whatever put strangers (which the royal family are) above their family, and xmas eve saying "OK family I'm just off with my fold up chair, see you sometime tomorrow evening by the time I get home!"
I think these people are bonkers.

its obscene

Didn’t a Mumsnetter go one year? I think the people are pretty harmless, but I agree that the whole thing is quite baffling