When do the Royal Family take their Christmas decorations down?
The Royal Family do things their own way, including their Christmas decorations. Traditionally, people take down their festive adornments on the twelfth day of Christmas — around the 5th of January — but during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, it's thought the Windsors kept their decorations up for an extra month until her return to Buckingham Palace.
The roots of this tradition have a sad history. In 1952, Queen Elizabeth's father, King George VI died on February 6th at Sandringham — the monarch's private 20,000 acre Norfolk estate — aged only 56.
Elizabeth, aged 25 at the time, was abroad on a royal tour with Philip and never expected to accede throne so early into adulthood.
Later that year after her father died, Elizabeth as the new monarch wrote in a letter about the loss: "It all seems so unbelievable still that my father is no longer here and it is only after some time has passed one begins to realise how much he is missed".
For most of Queen Elizabeth's reign, she celebrated the festive season at Sandringham with her family, and stayed there for an extended holiday until the anniversary of her father's death had passed. The royals generally used to spend this time over New Year enjoying outdoor pursuits like shooting and horse riding, as well as attending church.
Whether King Charles will continue this tradition remains to be seen, but for the last few decades the royals have enjoyed their Christmas decorations for a lot longer than the rest of us, and ignored the superstition that it is bad luck to keep them up after the twelfth day of Christmas.
The Christmas trees at in the state apartments at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace are always impressive: up to 20ft and ornately decorated.
However, it is said that at Sandringham the festive decorations are little more understated and that when the royals arrive on Christmas Eve for their family celebration, they add the finishing touches themselves.
In Victorian times, Prince Albert — Queen Victoria's husband — helped popularise the use of Christmas trees, which had first arrived in the UK under Queen Charlotte.
As trees were historically a German custom in the festive season, Albert's enthusiasm for them quickly made it a trend that spread around the country, and, of course, continues today.
So if your festive decor ends up hanging around a little longer than the 5th of January, you're in good company.
Watch: The one event The Crown got completely wrong
Read more about the royals at Christmas:
Sarah Ferguson's Invite to Royal Christmas is a Big Deal (Marie Claire, 2-min read)
Prince Louis steals the show on Royal Family’s Christmas Day walkabout (GoodtoKnow, 2-min read)
What the Royal Family eats and drinks at Christmas, according to experts (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
