The British royal family marked the holidays with its annual walk to Christmas Day services Wednesday. with Kate Middleton, Prince William, King Charles III, and others making the holiday trek to church. But though this week was expected to be “one of the biggest family Christmases ever,” several royals were noticeably absent.
Charles—who continues to receive treatments for an unspecified cancer—and Queen Camilla led the walk, with the latter seemingly recovered from an infection that had disrupted her schedule in recent weeks.
Kate Middleton, William, and children Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, and Prince George followed closely behind. The couple were fresh off the broadcast of the Middleton-founded Together at Christmas concert event, which aired on British TV on Christmas Eve.
The walk was an especially momentous one for watchers of the Princess of Wales: Last year’s hike to Norfolk’s St. Mary Magdalene Church was the last time most members of the public lay eyes on Middleton, before a step back from public life—driven, as we now know, by her own cancer diagnosis—that spurred a whirlwind of conspiracy theories.
This year, the green-clad Princess Cate topped off her look with a pair of topaz earnings reportedly from British brand Robinson Pelham. The £6,000 baubles, the company wrote on Instagram, “include diamond spokes” and were inspired by the Georgian era, the period in UK history from 1714 to 1837, during which George I, George II, George III and George IV ruled as king.
Though last year, Prince Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson were also part of the family stroll to church, this year, they celebrated elsewhere. The scandal-plagued prince, who for years has faced allegations of misconduct and ill behavior, was recently linked to an alleged Chinese spy. Due to the ongoing scandal, Andrew bowed out of the family event, as did Ferguson and daughter Princess Eugenie. Princess Beatrice, whose pregnancy is keeping her close to home, was indeed there, clad in a belted camel coat as she walked alongside husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
Also absent were Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as were their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The king’s younger son and his wife were reportedly not invited to this year’s family holiday, and presumably remained in California this week. There might be other reasons the couple skipped the well-photographed family event, however, as the duo reportedly preferred to keep their children’s faces out of the public eye, even obscuring them in their holiday card photo.
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