The REAL reason Kate Middleton politely declined the Queen’s unprecedented invitation to spend Christmas at Sandringham with the royal family

Every year the royal family travels to Sandringham to celebrate Christmas, where they have a number of famous traditions – from gift-giving to the annual ‘weigh-in’ after the party.

Even the guest list is determined by custom, as an invitation to the lavish affair is usually not given to a royal couple until they get married.

But in 2006, the late Queen took the unprecedented step of inviting an ‘unregistered’ friend for the first time: Kate Middleton, Prince William’s partner.

However, in a surprising twist, the future Princess of Wales politely declined the offer, choosing to stick with tradition and wait until she could attend as a married woman – with the ring to prove it.

It has gone down in royal history as proof that Kate, then just 24, valued the importance of tradition and patience.

Here, MailOnline looks back at the time Kate Middleton showed her judgment and turned down Queen Elizabeth II’s invitation.

Christmas at Sandringham runs like a military operation with everything arranged on time, from the arrival of the guests to breakfast, walking the dogs, sitting down for lunch and going to bed.

There are dozens of long-running traditions, some more bizarre than others, that take place every year.

One, said to be 100 years old, involves everyone eating Christmas dinner, with the Queen being weighed before and after the meal to ensure they have had enough to eat.

But amid all the splendor, the royal family can spend some quality time together, away from prying eyes, at the 20,000-acre Norfolk Estate.

The royal family is known to let loose and enjoy a messy game of football together, along with card and board games.

It was to everyone’s surprise when the winter of 2006 came and Kate Middleton turned down such an opportunity to mingle with the royal family.

She met William in 2001 when they were both studying at St Andrews University in Scotland, and the couple had attended a number of royal events together since then.

Kate was among the crowd watching William during his passing out parade at Sandhurst on December 15.

But tradition dictated that before she married into the royal family, attending major family celebrations such as Christmas and Easter was out of the question.

Although Buckingham Palace courtiers later insisted that the Queen could invite whomever she wished to the intimate church service and family lunch, it is believed that until then no one had ever been invited if they were not a permanent member of the family.

Princess Diana was not invited in 1980, two months before her engagement to Charles was announced.

In his biography Battle Of Brothers, historian Robert Lacey wrote: ‘By 2006, the couple had been dating seriously for almost five years.

But when William invited Kate to join him at Sandringham that year for the royal family’s traditional Christmas lunch, she declined.

‘It was the first time the Queen had extended such an invitation to an unregistered ‘friend’, but Kate had her own take on the break with tradition: she would only go to Sandringham on Christmas Day if she was engaged and had a ring. prove it.”

Kate’s strong-willed “no” showed that she was willing to stick to tradition and wait until the time was right. She was unwilling to crush history in her haste to marry into the royal family.

So what did Kate do instead of spending Christmas at the world-famous Sandringham? She chose to travel to Scotland to spend the holidays with her parents and family.

A friend said at the time: ‘Carole, Kate’s mother, wants it to be a week-long party. Although Kate is not a wild party girl, her parents love to entertain and know how to throw a party.

‘They rented a farm in Perthshire and organized a few days of filming and big family dinners, followed by evenings of drinking around a big fire.’

According to friends, Kate wanted to spend some time with her family after the recent deaths of her two grandmothers.

“Kate was incredibly saddened to lose both her grandmothers and this will be the first time the family has come together after their deaths,” the friend said. ‘It’s a bit of a Middleton Christmas and there’s no way Kate wouldn’t be part of it.’

But William appeared to regret her decision, and during the traditional royal shooting party over the festive period, the prince was pictured glued to his phone.

The future king in love found himself in a world of his own, with his gun under his arm, but his cell phone firmly in his hand.

As his uncles and grandfather took enthusiastic aim and proudly received their prey, the then 24-year-old (presumably Kate) texted furiously.

And Kate stuck to the values ​​she demonstrated in 2006. It wasn’t until 2011 that she finally accepted the invitation to spend Christmas at Sandringham – eight months after marrying William at Westminster Abbey.

Despite spending time with the royal family for more than a decade, the then Duchess of Cambridge later revealed she was nervous about spending holidays with the in-laws.

In the 2016 ITV documentary Our Queen At Ninety, she said: ‘I remember being at Sandringham for the first time at Christmas.

‘And I was wondering what to give the Queen as a Christmas present. I thought, “Gosh, what should I give her?”

“I thought, ‘I’ll make her something.’ Which could have gone terribly wrong. But I decided to make my grandmother’s chutney recipe. I was a little worried about it, but the next day I noticed it was on the table.

‘I think such a simple gesture has brought me so much and I have noticed that since she has done that very often. I think it just shows how thoughtful she is, and how caring she is for everyone.”

On Christmas Day 2011, Kate showed no signs of nerves as she made her debut during the walk to the church service at St Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham. She continues to play a leading role at every royal Christmas.