In the end, it was the year that Prince William described as probably “the hardest year in my life.” The sudden dual cancer diagnoses of the King and Princess of Wales thrust the royals, and the UK, in to unprecedented territory. Working timetables were tossed aside as the family dealt with personal challenges that William described as “brutal.”

Members of the British royal family exchange gifts every Dec. 24 — not on Christmas morning as many families do. As Prince Harry put it in his 2023 memoir, Spare, doing so is “a German tradition that survived the anglicizing of the family surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla, who have made Christmas morning mass at Sandringham Church an annual tradition, were joined by Prince William, Kate Middleton and their three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.