The British Royals at Christmas 2017: This year the Queen will be screened
Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS / AFP
Most royal families usually spend the Christmas days very traditionally - but in 2020, everything is different there too.
Corona cases have already occurred in several families, others have to withdraw strictly due to their age, and still others cannot even travel home.
As in many households, the festive season will look different for the Royals this year.
The British
The traditional festival at the Sandringham country estate in the east of England, where the whole family meets every year to celebrate and hunt, is canceled.
Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and Prince Philip, 99, want to spend the holidays at Windsor Castle near London instead - shielded by a small circle of the closest court staff.
According to the British news broadcaster Sky News, it is the first time since 1988 that the British royal couple do not go to the Norfolk country estate over the holidays.
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Photo with distance: Queen Elizabeth II with Prince William and Duchess Catherine (l.) And Prince Charles and his wife Camilla (r.)
Photo: POOL / REUTERS
Like many other families around the world, some members of the royal family found it difficult to decide who was allowed to sit with whom under the Christmas tree.
In England up to three households are allowed to form a "Christmas Bubble" and meet each other over the Christmas period.
"It's so difficult, we're still trying to make plans," said Prince William in early December during a Christmas train tour of the country.
Further infections in the royal family should be avoided at all costs: After all, heir to the throne Prince Charles and probably William himself had contracted the virus in the spring.
The Dutch
The Oranje family will spend the festive season at home in the palace - that is almost certain.
Usually the royal family holidays are a closely guarded palace secret.
But a lot is different in Corona times.
Despite the government's urgent command not to travel abroad, King Willem-Alexander and his Queen Máxima traveled to their own holiday home in Greece with their three daughters during the autumn break.
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King Willem-Alexander and his wife Máxima (October 2020)
Photo: Koen van Weel / POOL / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
The anger of the citizens at home was so great that the royal couple had to cancel their vacation.
Willem-Alexander even asked the people for forgiveness in a TV speech.
The Oranjes cannot afford to take another wrong step.
Therefore, skiing in Máxima's Argentine homeland will probably not work.
The Danes
First her 80th birthday in April, then celebrations for the reintegration of the North Schleswig region into their own kingdom 100 years ago: 2020 should be such a festive year for Denmark's Queen Margrethe II.
Due to the corona, these big celebrations could not take place as planned, and restrictions also apply at Christmas in Denmark.
But the monarch doesn't have to celebrate alone: Margrethe will spend the festival together with her younger son Prince Joachim, 51, his wife Princess Marie, 44, and his four children at Marselisborg Castle in Aarhus.
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Denmark's Queen Margrethe II (archive image)
Photo: VALDA KALNINA / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
The position in the capital Copenhagen is held by Crown Prince Frederik, 52, who will stay with Crown Princess Mary, 48, and their four children at Amalienborg over Christmas.
Frederik's eldest son, Prince Christian, 15, had tested positive for the virus at his school in early December after a corona outbreak.
Corona tests with the rest of the Crown Prince family were negative.
Christian has now survived the period of isolation - so nothing stands in the way of the Hygge Christmas in the closest family circle.
The Norwegians
2020 was also a grueling year in Norway.
Not only because of the pandemic, in which a corona case at the court of King Harald V, 83, and Queen Sonja, 83, were last temporarily put in quarantine.
But also because of a heart operation in which Harald had a heart valve replaced.
At Christmas, there should be one thing above all for the Norwegian royals: peace and quiet.
It is uncertain where they will find them this time.
The court's Christmas plans have not yet been published.
On the third Advent, the royal family put at least one video online showing Crown Prince Haakon, 47, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, 47, and their two children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, 16, and Prince Sverre Magnus, 15, eating.
The Crown Prince family, who spent Christmas in Uvdal around 150 kilometers west of Oslo, talks about what they are looking forward to at Christmas - the family, snow and a little skiing.
"God jul!" Wish the four - Merry Christmas!
The Sweden
Shortly before Christmas, the Swedish royal family received good news: Prince Carl Philip, 41, and his wife Princess Sofia, 36, are expecting their third child in spring 2021.
But even four of them are already looking cozy and Christmassy in front of the Christmas tree, as an Instagram video recently showed.
The couple had previously tested positive for Covid-19.
Carl Philips' younger sister Madeleine, 38, is trying with her family to bring a little European Christmas tradition to their adopted home Florida: There they celebrate the festival on Christmas Eve - and not, as the Americans traditionally, on Christmas Day.
The Christmas home visit has to be canceled for Madeleine this time because of the corona restrictions, as the Swedish royal family has confirmed to the women's magazine "Svensk Damtidning".
Icon: The mirror
wit / dpa