King Charles butler shares Christmas decoration royals never use

Christmas is just days away which means that the many sprawling properties belonging to the royal family will be dressed to the nines in their finest festive decorations.

Former royal butler, Grant Harrold, who worked for King Charles, 74, and Camilla Queen Consort, 75, for several years has revealed the big thing to avoid if you're planning on decorating your house like a royal this year: Tinsel.

Grant says the royals are not huge fans of the traditional festive material, instead favouring other decorations.

He told The Mirror: "Don't overdo it with the tinsel.

"Everybody gets the tinsel but if you go to a royal home, it is a lot more greenery, baubles and lights, not tinsel."

Earlier this month, Queen Camilla invited a number of children to decorate a Christmas tree at Clarence House, where Grant's point was proved with not a bit of tinsel to be seen.

The Queen Consort's decision to invite people to come and decorate the tree echoes the tradition made by the late Queen Elizabeth, who used to leave one tree empty at the family's royal retreat of Sandringham, which she would save for her grandchildren and great grandchildren to decorate.

Grant said: "I heard that at Sandringham, the Queen used to arrange for one of the trees in one of the rooms to be left bare for the kids to decorate it.

"It was a tradition that she started and the grandkids would come in and they would all do a bit of decorating, which I thought was always quite a nice idea."

The late Queen spent Christmas at Sandringham every year, with some of the senior royals expected to continue the family tradition this year, with the addition of Camilla's two children, Laura and Tom.

It's said that this year is expected to be bittersweet for the royals at Sandringham, as it will be the first Christmas since the death of the Queen, who passed away aged 96 in September.

Grant said: "I think for them it will very emotional this year and I've no doubt there are tears that will be shed on the day or the night before because they will be remembering her.

"But I'm sure as well it will be a fun time for the youngsters and it will also carry on how the Queen would have wanted it to."

Royal watchers will be familiar with seeing the family come together to attend the church on the estate on Christmas morning, before returning to the warmth of the castle to enjoy an elaborate Christmas lunch together.

It is expected that King Charles and Queen Camilla will be at Sandringham for Christmas, however, it is unclear whether they will be joined by Prince William, Kate Middleton and their three children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4.

READ NEXT:

  • Click here for today's top showbiz news

  • King Charles hosts festive lunch at Windsor Castle ahead of Christmas

  • Charles 'totally outplayed Harry and Meghan' with response to bombshell Netflix doc

  • Mike and Zara Tindall show off incredible snow windows at sprawling £1.7m estate

  • Get exclusive celebrity stories and fabulous photoshoots straight to your inbox with OK!'s daily newsletter

Source: Read Full Article