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?!

I think the whole thing is weird. The crowd are oddities. No normal person would do this, surely? That footage of the fanatical superfan was disturbing at best. I think Kate and William need to stop allowing these peculiarities to hug their children.

there is no reason for the children to be involved with this "walk"

It is pretty weird for a random stranger to tell a child his nanny would be proud of him. Assuming that random stranger didn’t know Diana either.

It’s just like all of the other “walkabouts” though isn’t it?

People feel as though they know the royal family personally when of course they don’t know them at all.

William and Catherine seem to be good parents overall so I would expect them to have spoken with their children about what to expect and to have asked them if they want to take part. It's easy to spot reluctant children and all three Wales children seem ok with the tradition. They are carefully supervised by their parents and security and the crowd has been screened by security.

It would be weird thing to do on Christmas morning for my children but my children aren't in the Royal family and won't have an unavoidable public profile for the rest of their lives. It's not weird for royal children.

My parents had a public facing role and I was brought up with people knowing more about me than I did about them. At times I was expected to behave in a certain way or take part in events because of what my parents did. It taught me some useful skills and some things I've had to discuss in therapy, no family is perfect.

As a child the family you are born into is normal and you accept things. As long as they aren't being forced to take part, and I see no signs of that, then I believe it's up to their parents what they do and don't do.

Having said all that I'm pretty sure if the crowds start behaving badly or things are said or done that upset the children there will very quickly be measures put into place to protect or remove them.

Or that ‘nanny’ to those children means ‘Norland’, rather ‘grandmother’.

I live further than 10 mins away but Sandringham and the Norfolk sea-side places have been a part of my whole life. I can't remember how many years it is since I went on Christmas morning - 2020 I think. I was frisked and had the bag check, going in. I realise I will be called a mentally deficient nutter for going there, so if you think I am don't read any further. The only food I ever took was a flask of soup and a bread roll full of chicken, bacon, sausage and stuffing and I sure as hell didn't offer it to anyone. It stayed in the car. I think the gift-offering and calling has now become OTT. I am not using this post to make a side-swipe at Kate and William, but I think it would be a good idea if they and their advisors and the Chief Constable of Norfolk had a look at the way it's going now and thought about how it might be reined in a bit.

It’s controversial to say some posters on MNs are way too invested in the Royals? Wow!

I suppose they are responsible for a lot of traffic.

Some of the people in the crowds are very strange. Asking children for hugs and telling them their dead nan would be proud! Where are the boundaries? Why are Kate and William letting this happen? If this was a celeb couple or non royal parents allowing it, it would be seen as irresponsible. We’re sold this story that William and Kate are great parents but I think this shows they’re not at all. It shows very poor parental judgement and an inability to prioritise their children over Royal life.

I actually know of a couple who regularly go to these things in the hope of seeing the Royals. They don’t see most of their family because the man was inappropriate with children and teens in the family and the woman stood by him. 🤢 Not all of the people in the crowd will be harmless and definitely should not be able to hug the children.

I was also surprised that William didn’t correct Louis on basic manners when he snatched the chocolates. For anyone that actually parents their children, it’s very natural to tell them to say thank you if they forget due to excitement or whatever reason, but it obviously didn’t even cross William’s mind. I’m not convinced he’s with his children as much as we’re led to believe or that he’s a very good parent at all.

William may have corrected Louis in private since everything is in public and probably on camera. Louis is a kid. People need to cut him some slack.

In my extensive experience with the public, they ignore rules. Try being stuck on a airport line behind someone with ammo in their carryon. The food is probably discarded and the toys given away.

I also seem to remember Diana's sons complimented over the years by being told she would be proud of them. Why not the grandchildren? At least they are complimented for behavior and not their appearance.

I’m on the other thread about this. I think it’s gotten out of hand and should be locals only.

Randomers coming for miles and sleeping overnight is OTT. As a pp said it’s a weird parasocial relationship.

The kids will not be keeping any of the sweets or presents anyway. Too risky.

If the family turned up in the next street to mine I wouldn't be bothered to go round to see them, so I really can't understand people visiting Sandringham from afar, or even a few miles away.

It seems a silly tradition in today's day and age.

I’m not criticising Louis, I have ‘cut him some slack’, I said he was probably excited. He was possibly overwhelmed with the whole situation too, and he’s still young. His father should have said ‘say thank you Louis’ or ‘what do you say for your gift, Louis’, but he didn’t. Thats rude, or as I said, a sign of a father who doesn’t actually parent his children much because that is such a natural thing to do for any parent who is with their children a lot, which we are led to believe he is. I disagree that William and Kate should be putting their children in the situation at all.

If you really can’t see that a stranger who didn’t know Diana, telling young children that their nanny Diana would be proud, isn’t ok or in any way normal. then I’m not sure anyone can help you. No one should have said it to William and Harry either, especially if they were still children, but it’s still very inappropriate as adults, from someone who didn’t know their mother. The children should not be put in the situation, where they have to deal with these people who lack boundaries, at the ages they’re at.

It seems to me that they’re using their children like this to increase popularity of the RF as a whole. Children should never be used as part of a ‘brand’ and parents should protect them.

Deleted as posted twice

It seems to me that they’re using their children like this to increase popularity of the RF as a whole. Children should never be used as part of a ‘brand’ and parents should protect them.

The children are very much part of the brand though.

I think it’s odd that people stand for hours in the cold just to look at them . They are just people who pee and poo like everyone else . Also the chocolates people give them will just be binned in case they have been tampered with in some way or possibly be given to the staff to eat .

With my cynical hat on, well thats another fifty million quid in the bank for the "work" they did on the few metres walk. Now a few months of nothing because well, we saw them lots over Christmas, time for a rest.

That walk has to be the most cringeworthy thing and no wonder the adults all looked awkward and very self conscious. But i have no sympathy, it's the quid pro quo for payment.

I agree, but I think for the Royals it reinforces their superiority (the great unwashed are obviously a bunch of sycophantic weirdos and they love us) and serves to breed contempt, furthering the 'us and them' relationship (cf Louis snatching the chocs - why should he say thank you to a bunch of low-life nobodys?)

In this way, the RF can convince themselves that they are still 'beloved' and lo! They are not pointless after all. Huzzah!

They do not need to be accepting gifts from strangers, giving hugs to strangers or holding the hands of crazy obsessive fans whilst having to listen to them say inappropriate things about how their dead nan would feel about them. None of this is good for children to experience and their parents should protect them from it.

🤣🤣🤣Lucky, lucky staff-being allowed to eat the chocolate considered too risky to be given to the children.

I agree with this.
And the children taking selfies with the public, of whom most there seemed to be overly obsessed with the royals, is not ''modernising'' in a good way at all.

I remember watching the news really early one Christmas morning and seeing all these people queuing at Sandringham waiting to see the royal family walk. And I thought these people are actually to be pitied.

Can you imagine what your life must be like to lead you to leave your own house on Christmas eve/morning to go and stand in the cold for hours to catch a glimpse of a privileged family who literally couldn't give a stuff about you? Some of them even had their kids with them. Wtf, those kids should be at home enjoying Christmas morning.

Bonkers, the lot of them.

Why would the staff want to eat cast off chocs that may have been tampered with?

If they were my children I wouldn't let them near any of the tat being handled over by randoms.

*William may have corrected Louis in private since everything is in public and probably on camera. Louis is a kid. People need to cut him some slack.
Telling a child who has forgotten to say 'Thank you' to an adult needs to be done in the adults presence, not several hours later when the child has completely forgotten what has happened! I agree that it is an automatic thing to say to a young child who has taken something 'What do we say?' or something to remind them to be polite and gracious, and that it probably either means William doesn't parent his children that much or he doesn't do the disciplining part of parenting, leaving that to the nannies. Ruffling Louis' hair after he has been rude is not good parenting. He is 7 years old. A generation before he would have been packed off to boarding school at 8. But then again allowing your children to be manhandled by strangers and introducing them to a man who has clear stalker tendencies is not good parenting either.

This. They must think we are moronic. Not to mention the rest of the world!