King Charles and Queen Camilla pose casually in the gardens of Buckingham Palace for their annual Christmas card – a stark contrast to last year’s coronation snap

Buckingham Palace has released King Charles’ third Christmas card as monarch, featuring a sweet photo of the royal family with his wife Queen Camilla.

The photo was taken by Millie Pilkington in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, captured in April when the foliage behind the royal couple bloomed with pink and purple flowers.

The photo shows Camilla, 77, in a blue wool crepe dress by Fiona Clare, with her arm around her husband.

Charles, 76, wears a light gray suit and blue patterned tie, smiling with his hand in his pocket.

The card is a stark departure from the formal image their Majesties chose last year: an official coronation photo taken by Hugo Burnand in the throne room of Buckingham Palace.

That year the photo showed the King wearing the Imperial State, while Camilla wore Queen Mary’s crown. Both were dressed in the robes of Estate.

An inscription in last year’s post read: ‘Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.’

Speaking about his experience as a coronation photographer, Hugo Burnand – who also captured Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding – described the atmosphere in the throne room during the photo shoot as ‘cosy’.

He added that there was a “nice buzz” as he set up and shot the coronation images.

Hugo, who has been given a royal warrant by the king as a portrait photographer, was also the snapper at Charles and Camilla’s wedding in 2005.

However, he did not support the first Christmas card Charles sent as monarch in 2022, which showed a close-up of him and his wife.

The photo, taken by award-winning photographer Sam Hussein, showed the royal couple at a Highland Gathering just days before the late Queen Elizabeth II died.

A smiling Charles and Camilla were pictured laughing while attending the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering on September 3, five days before the Queen died on September 8.

The photo captured the nowKing from a side profile, wearing a tweed suit with a red, green and beige tie.

Meanwhile, Camilla was seen wearing a green suit and matching hat with a pheasant motif, as well as pearl earrings.

The event saw Charles officially open a new building to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, as he joined spectators at The Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park for the annual Highland Games event.

It was noted that Queen Elizabeth II did not attend due to her declining health.

Charles cut a heath rope to mark the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Archway.

Crowds from around the world joined him and the then Duchess of Cornwall to watch competitors take part in events such as the caber toss, hammer throw and tug-of-war, and to celebrate a number of long-standing Scottish traditions, dance and music .

Camilla and the Princess Royal were presented with heather posies before the Games started by 10-year-old Chloe Guy and 12-year-old Cassie Stewart, who are both members of the Braemar Royal Highland Society’s dance class.

Camilla appeared to take a sprig of flowers and put them in her buttonhole, which was visible in the photo of the Christmas card.

There are conflicting reports about when the tradition of royals sending Christmas cards began.

Some say it was in 1914, when King George V and Queen Mary sent them during World War I to share a message of goodwill with the troops and their families.

But according to the Royal Trust Collection: ‘After the introduction of the ‘penny post’, the first Christmas cards were sent in 1843. Members of the royal family often chose a recent family photo for their personal Christmas card.’

Last year, a huge collection of royal Christmas cards went up for sale, containing festive images from almost every year between 1953 and 1989.

The cards were kept by Commander Sir Philip John Row, who was Deputy Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth II between 1958 and 1968 and then appointed Additional Equestrian to the Queen Mother in 1969.

They went under the hammer in November at auction house Woolley & Wallis from Salisbury, Wiltshire.

The collection showed how the royal family had developed over four decades, spanning three generations, from the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, their children, and Princes William and Harry.

In the first card the now king was only five years old, while in a later card he was depicted as an adult with his two sons.

Among the cards are some from the 1950s showing Charles with Princess Anne as children, and Princes Andrew and Edward in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Meanwhile, the card for 1960 shows the family on the front lawn of Balmoral with baby Andrew, while in 1964 baby Edward appears in a pram with the family huddled around it.

The 1978 card shows Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip by a fireplace, while the 1981 card shows newlyweds Charles and Princess Diana.

Sir Philip John Row joined the Royal Navy in 1922 and served in the Arctic Convoys on HMS Kent in the Second World War.

He was also aboard Kent for Operation Mascot – one of several attempts to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz.

His 20 medals include the Royal Victoria Order, Knight Commander’s Neck Badge and Star, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and the French Legion d’Honneur.

Ned Cowell, militaria specialist at Woolley & Wallis, said at the time of the 2023 sale: ‘His collection of royal Christmas cards from 1953 to 1989 provides a fascinating record of the first half of Queen Elizabeth’s long reign.

‘It is interesting to look at the cards and see how the chosen photos develop over almost forty years.