The week's best royal photos
Plus a lookback to this time last year and a look ahead to next week's diary in The Royal Dispatch
Hello Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here.
It’s been a busy week for the royals as we get closer and closer to Christmas, with plenty of festive engagements like Queen Camilla inviting children into Clarence House to decorate the tree. Plus a glitzy state banquet in the Netherlands.
But before we dive into the best royal pictures of the week, it’s time to head back in time…
This time last year…
Princess Sofia of Sweden gave us this stunning tiara moment for the Nobel Prize Banquet at Stockholm City Hall in December last year. The Palmette Tiara is made of diamonds and emeralds, and was a wedding gift from her parents-in-law, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. She wore the tiara for her 2015 nuptials to Prince Carl Philip and I have to say, looks just as radiant in it now as she did almost a decade ago.
Queen Camilla looked firmly fixed on her task as she decorated a Christmas tree in the library at Clarence House, aided children and families supported by Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity.
Camilla wasn’t the only one working hard on decoration, as King Charles also had a tree of his own to spruce up. The monarch decorated a Christmas tree during the The King’s Foundation’s annual ‘Crafts at Christmas’ festivities at Highgrove Gardens in Tetbury, England.
On a more sombre note, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain attended the funeral mass for those who died in the floods in Spain last year at the Catedral de Valencia.
Further reading
My special ticket to Catherine’s carol concert
Andrew has perfected the art of legal foot-dragging
Should all royals pay market rent like Prince William?
Best Royal Pictures of The Week
Queen Camilla
The Queen visited the set of raunchy TV drama, Rivals, and revealed binge-watching the series had cheered her up while she was ill with pneumonia last year. Camilla was given a behind-the-scenes tour of the set in Bristol on Monday and met the show’s stars, including Alex Hassell, David Tennant, Nafessa Williams, Victoria Smurfit and Bella Maclean.
Later in the week, the Queen threw her annual traditional lunch for children with life-shortening conditions at her London Home, Clarence House. Youngsters supported by the organisations Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity were invited to meet Santa Claus and decorate the Christmas tree.
Prince William
William celebrated his 20th anniversary as patron of the homelessness charity Centrepoint, and was presented with a towering cake to mark the occasion!
Danish royals
King Frederik and Queen Mary’s four children displayed some friendly sibling rivalry as they took on the challenge of making gingerbread houses. It was boys vs girls as Crown Prince Christian, 20, teamed up with his younger brother, Prince Vincent, 14, while Vincent’s twin sister, Princess Josephine, 14, worked together with her older sister, Princess Isabella, 18.
King Charles
The King attended an advent service at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday, where he joined in the prayers and lit a candle. In a foreword to the official order of service at the Advent Service, the King wrote, in part: “It is a great joy to gather with you in the most glorious setting of Westminster Abbey as we celebrate the light, hope and, above all, the peace of this season of Advent. This period is one of preparation, of readying ourselves and looking forward to the wonder of Christ’s birth.”
Dutch royals
King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima, and their eldest daughter Princess Amalia attended a lavish state banquet on Thursday at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, in honour of the Finnish president Alexander Stubb’s two-day state visit. How elegant did the Dutch royals look?
Princess Amalia stole the show wearing the Dutch Diamond Bandeau, one of her mother’s favourite tiaras.
Swedish royals
Over in Sweden, the royal family also pulled out all the stops to attend a banquet, the Nobel Prize Banquet 2025 in Stockholm. Crown Princess Victoria once again proved she is the queen of royal re-wears, stunning in a gown designed by Jacques Zehnder, which her mother, Queen Silvia, wore to the same Nobel banquet in 1994.