King Charles was outside on Thursday – he toured Apple’s UK headquarters with Tim Cook, and he toured the Curated Makers Christmas Market. Both events were associated with the King’s Trust (formerly the Prince’s Trust), which has offered support to various entrepreneurs who were involved with the Christmas Market. Charles always manages to look genuinely delighted whenever he’s in markets, shops or grocery stores. He always manages to look mildly horrified whenever they make him do photo-ops with computers or anything tech-related too.

Anyway, Charles is preparing for Christmas and trying to make his Christmas-hosting sound much bigger and better than his late mother’s Christmas hosting. Per usual, Charles will celebrate Christmas in Sandringham with his family. Reportedly, it’s supposed to be a larger gathering than usual, and Charles and Camilla have both made a point of asking their families to come to Norfolk for the holiday. Tom Parker Bowles spoke about it extensively in an interview with the Telegraph last weekend – Tom usually spends Christmas Day at his ex-wife’s house, with their two kids. This year, Camilla asked Tom and his kids to come to Sandringham. I assume Camilla’s daughter Laura will also be there. Obviously, Charles did not not invite both of HIS kids to Christmas. We heard that weeks ago, that the Sussexes did not receive an invitation to Sandringham. But someone wanted it emphasized, so Richard Eden got a call.

The King is determined to make this Christmas a big celebration for the extended Royal Family. Indeed, Prince William told families at a Christmas event for the 1st Battalion Mercian Regiment in Wiltshire this week that he was looking forward to spending it with 45 relatives ‘all in one room’!

Among those present for the first time will be the King’s stepson, Tom Parker Bowles, who revealed last weekend that he would be taking his two children to the royal retreat in Norfolk.

Despite the profound significance of this year’s celebrations, and the King and Queen’s intimations of mortality, there will be four conspicuous absences at the Christmas dinner table. While the King’s stepson will be there – the first time a monarch’s stepchild has ever stayed at Sandringham – his younger son will not.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will instead be in California. Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, is likely to be the only member of either family to join them as they carve their turkey.

I am told that it is unlikely Prince Harry and his family were even invited to Sandringham this year.

‘Relations between Harry and his family are not sufficiently close for an invitation to be sent,’ a royal source tells me. ‘It’s very sad that things are that bad. We know that Harry wants to mend fences, but there is an awfully long way to go.’

[From The Daily Mail]

“Relations between Harry and his family are not sufficiently close for an invitation to be sent… We know that Harry wants to mend fences, but there is an awfully long way to go.” First off, the way it’s worded, they’re assuming that Harry was desperate for an invitation, but they can’t say that Harry requested an invitation (because he would deny that lie swiftly) or that he offered to come (again, he could deny that lie). It’s more likely that Harry and Meghan sent Christmas cards or holiday messages to Charles and then began planning their Christmas feast in Montecito. The fact that Buckingham Palace keeps pursuing this storyline – Desperate Harry Wants Reconciliation, Only To Be Brutally Snubbed By Charles – says more about Charles than Harry. It’s also a confession that all of this “big family gathering at Sandringham” PR is just another storyline for an audience of one: Prince Harry. “Look at us, Harry, we’re enjoying Christmas without YOU, aren’t you jealous?!?!” Psychotic.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.