Christmas Day walk in Sandringham

[Phase42]

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?!

Are you including Harry in this as an example of how " they turned out" ?

I agree very much with your points. Margaret lived at a time when women's positions were totally different from now. Add on world events - she was a child during WW2 and then the social mores of a few years later when she wasn't allowed to have a career or an " unsuitable" partner. It's odd that people who criticise the RF constantly refer back to people and times in the past to quantify their point yet on the King Charles speech thread they dismissed WW2 as irrelevant and in the past. There is no denying this is a different time and by the time George becomes King ( if that happens) who knows what the institution of the RF will look like.

Well yes, however you feel about Harry, no one could say he “flourished” by being encouraged to quit the army and become a working royal. Surely the Andrew and Harry history would make the family realised that encouraging anyone other than the next in line to make “working royal” their life plan is a terrible decision long term.

What role would losing his mother at a young age play? Did this contribute to his situation?

I don't think you can include George 6 in the list - he was very happy in the supporting role and devastated when he became king.

Princess Anne was the spare until she was 10

He wasn't encouraged to leave the army. Everyone thought he would remain a serving officer but he didn't like his next posting (MOD in London IIRC), and he threw a strop and quit.

The "men in grey suits" had to rapidly scramble and invent a role for him - and it was heavily curated around his interests - Military, Mental health, Africa, polo and Diana's charities - it was rare to see Harry doing the bread and butter stuff in community centres in Wigan.

I thought he had to leave the army because where he was serving was leaked and him being in the front line made him a target and therefore a risk to other soldiers? That was certainly in the papers at the time…..

edited to say Oh, sorry-that’s why he was pulled out of Afghanistan-not why he left the army.

He wasn't encouraged to leave the army. Everyone thought he would remain a serving officer but he didn't like his next posting (MOD in London IIRC), and he threw a strop and quit

I thought it was said, @Lunde - no idea how truthfully - that the next job would have involved taking an exam which Harry wasn't thought likely to pass?

The army doesn’t like officers ‘bottle necking’ the system. You either take and pass the exams for promotion/progression, or you find employment opportunities elsewhere with a stellar reference. The army’s position is that must have spaces for up and coming younger officers.

I thought that Harry might go to work with Halo Trust except apparently he had insufficient experience in that area, which I found interesting.

I see that this thread has been derailed to talk about someone who wasn’t even there.

Haha, yes, always happens!
What Harry's army career has to do with the Royals doing the crowd walk in Sandringham on xmas day, I do not know!

I keep wondering if I missed something and he was there 🕵️‍♀️🤴

William and Kates bad parenting is questioned because they’re allowing randoms to hug their kids and so they must deflect, deflect, deflect. 😂

Of course Harry is relevant to the general discussion of the amount of exposure RF children should get. He lived it first hand with William. They were the first. He complains about it. 🤷‍♀️

An alternative viewpoint

Telegraph archive link https://archive.is/EgENv

An alternative viewpoint? One where George has to be supported by his 10 year old sister because an adult with an obsession with his grandmother and mother makes an inappropriate comment? The same 10 year old who is simultaneously the image of both her great grandmother The Late Queen, her grandmother Diana who she never met and also her Great Aunt Anne? As well as being the ' future of the Monarchy? Yeah nothing to see there at all. What could possibly go wrong?

The heads down picture they have used compares rather uncomfortably with those of Diana's sons at her funeral.

All the adults are appalling IMO but the kids should be sidelined until they're of an age to consent willingly to participating in the circus and tolerating the criticism thereof.

The heads down picture they have used compares rather uncomfortably with those of Diana's sons at her funeral.

I thought that - I assume that's why they used it, given there will have been many more options.

I agree with posters who think the children shouldn’t be meeting the crowd for hugs and selfies. They’re still so young and it is unnecessary. Adults trying to attract the children to them by waving chocolate, teddies and calling their name over and over is not normal behaviour and it must be difficult for the children to process. As for the people that ask for hugs, how can they not see that it is wrong?

I laughed at the man telling one of the children that Nana Diana would be proud of them, but it’s not really very funny, it’s more concerning that this man shows a consistent pattern of obsessive behaviour and crossing of boundaries. If William and Catherine want to entertain him, more fool them, but they’re adults. To normalise this man’s behaviour to their children by introducing him by name and making them listen to him talking as if he knew their Nan is wrong. I wonder what the children can possibly make of it.

I think if they don’t nip it in the bud, now that so many people have seen that the children give out hugs and selfies on SM, more people will push for more and more access to them. There were comments on TikTok talking about which gifts to take next Christmas to ensure the children go over to them, one even saying they’re going to try to get them to have a phone conversation with their dad or record a video message for him. What is going through these people’s minds?

Well, what else are you supposed to do when you’ve put the sprouts on and you’re waiting for them to boil?

Another obsessive:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2025/12/31/intruder-breaks-in-prince-princess-wales-kensington-palace/

“An intruder twice got into the grounds of the Prince and Princess of Wales’s official London residence in the run up to Christmas.
Derek Egan, 39, has been charged with trespassing on a protected site at Kensington Palace on December 21 and 23.
He was carrying a heavy rucksack and was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Royal and Specialist Protection Command in the gardens of the residence on both days, according to The Sun, which first reported on the security breach.
The Prince and Princess are understood to have not been at the palace on either occasion.
After his arrest on December 23 he was remanded in custody and appeared before Bromley Magistrates Court on Christmas Eve.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on New Year’s Eve. He reportedly pleaded guilty to both charges and will be sentenced next week.
He is said to have been caught after scaling fences on the public side of the palace near the entrance to Hyde Park before being spotted on CCTV.”

He was carrying a heavy rucksack

Hey it's okay, it was only filled with presents and chocolate for the kids, he thought he was Santa!

Harry is relevant as he talked about hating the media attention as a child, and as he was the first generation of the intense media attention, he’s a good learning opportunity for the Wales children.

Also very relevant as posters have defended William and Catherine’s terrible decision to take the children on this walk because apparently they need to get used to it as it will be their jobs. Well it is reasonable to assume this will be George’s job but preparing Charlotte to dedicate her life to supporting her older brother is a really shitty decision.

She shouldn’t need to get used to it. As an adult if she chooses to work as a royal, then she can get media training in the same way anyone who marries in can. She does not need to learn this as a child. Her mother didn’t and coped fine.

Hope it’s the last year the children join the walk, surely W&C should protect their dcs.

Remember the guy who got in the Queen's bedroom !

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a34100472/michael-fagan-buckingham-palace-intruder-facts/