The Duchess of Sussex was absent from Sandringham, but there was one member of the royal family who benefited from a tradition broken for the American former actress.
Princess Margaret’s grandson, Samuel Chatto, was allowed to invite his girlfriend, Eleanor Ekserdjian, to stay at the Norfolk retreat.
She was able to do this after King Charles followed the example of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, who allowed Meghan Markle to attend the celebratory gathering in 2017, five months before she exchanged vows with Prince Harry at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
Meghan was the first person to spend Christmas at Sandringham before marrying into the royal family.
For example, Kate Middleton had to wait until she became Duchess of Cambridge and Sophie Rhys-Jones did not stay until she married Prince Edward and received the title Countess of Wessex.
“This is a clear sign that a royal wedding will take place in the new year,” notes an excited observer of the Windsors.
Princess Margaret’s grandson Samuel Chatto and his girlfriend Eleanor Ekserdjian at Sandringham yesterday. Eleanor was allowed to stay at the Norfolk retreat over the holidays
Richard Eden announced in 2021 that Sam, 28, had started dating Eleanor, an artist and also 28
King Charles at Sandringham on Christmas Day. Eleanor was able to stay after the king followed the example of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, who allowed Meghan Markle to attend the celebratory gathering in 2017.
I announced in 2021 that Sam, 28, had started dating Eleanor, an artist and also 28.
Sam, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, not only had a romance with the London-based painter, but he had also become her muse.
Eleanor told me at the time: ‘We are a couple.’
Inspired by her new love, the art professor’s daughter began depicting Sam in her work.
Eton-educated ceramicist Sam himself comes from an artistic family: his mother, the King’s cousin Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, often submits her artwork to the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition, and his father is the actor and artist Daniel Chatto.
Sam, who was left heartbroken when he split from his first serious girlfriend during Covid lockdowns, was invited to Buckingham Palace earlier this year for the State Banquet in honor of the Emperor and Empress of Japan.
Last year, Chatto did an internship with ‘porcelain master’ Yagi Akira in Japan. Some of Sam’s porcelain was part of an exhibition in Somerset organized by Hauser & Wirth, the gallery of which his cousin, Princess Eugenie, is deputy director.
After the late Queen broke tradition for Meghan, Princess Beatrice’s then fiancée, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, was allowed to stay at Sandringham for Christmas 2019. The following year the couple married.