Royal Family gather for Christmas Day service at Sandringham

King Charles and Queen Camilla have attended a Christmas Day church service at Sandringham, with the Prince and Princess of Wales and other royals by their side.

After the service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Norfolk, the King, Queen, Prince William, his wife Catherine and their three children greeted the excited crowds who had gathered and waited outside on the crisp Christmas morning.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, was not present, but his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were there along with their husbands.

The Princess Royal and her daughter Zara Tindall, with her family, also attended, along with the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

The Christmas morning church service is a big event in the royal calendar, bringing together the Royal Family for a public appearance, with crowds and photographers capturing the moment.

People from across the UK, Europe and the United States queued up from 21:00 on Christmas Eve to see the Royal Family on Christmas Day.

Just before 11:00 the Royal Family arrived outside the church and were greeted by Reverend Canon Dr Paul Rhys Williams.

The service inside the church was relayed by speakers to the crowd outside, who waited for the opportunity to chat to the royals afterwards.

Shortly before midday, the Royal Family emerged from the church after the service and spent time with members of the public who had lined up on the grass outside.

Three of the younger royals – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and their younger brother Prince Louis – interacted with the crowds on their own.

The children could be seen taking Christmas cards, toys, flowers and chocolate selection boxes from some of those in the crowd, chatting to them and shaking their hands.

Catherine had in-depth conversations with many individuals as she clutched bouquets of flowers which had been gifted to her.

The royals are spending Christmas at their Sandringham estate, which has been the customary seasonal meeting place for the family since 1988.

The Sandringham service comes hours before the King delivers his traditional Christmas message, filmed this year in Westminster Abbey.

It follows his “good news” earlier this month about responding well to cancer treatment.

The King is expected to talk about the “pilgrimage” of life, and the lessons it can teach about the issues of the day, in a message broadcast at 15:00 on Christmas Day.

On Christmas Eve, the Catherine and Princess Charlotte’s pre-recorded Christmas piano duet from inside Windsor Castle was broadcast.

The mother and daughter sat together to play a piece they know well by Scottish composer Erland Cooper, for Catherine’s Christmas carol concert.

Kensington Palace had teased the clip ahead of the programme with a video of Catherine and a then unknown person playing the piano captioned “a special duet…”.

While their children attended the Christmas Day church service, neither Andrew nor his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson were there.

In October, King Charles announced he would strip his younger brother Andrew of his titles and made the changes following weeks of intense scrutiny over the former prince’s links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

His connection to Epstein came under scrutiny again last week after a photo of Andrew lying on the laps of women was released by the US government as part of the so-called “Epstein files”.

Andrew was one of many well-known figures to be pictured in the files, and appearing in them is not evidence of a crime. Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Buckingham Palace has also said Andrew will leave his Royal Lodge home in Windsor, and will move in the New Year to an undisclosed property on the Sandringham estate, which is privately owned by the King.