Prince William and Princess Kate release Christmas card

The heir to the British throne, Prince William, and his wife Princess Kate published this year’s Christmas card on Thursday. The photo shows the couple with their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis in Norfolk. The location has a special meaning for the family: it was there, at the Anmer Hall country estate, that Kate recovered from her cancer treatment this year.

However, the photo is not a new photo or an unpublished family portrait. It’s from the video with which Kate announced her return to the public eye in September. “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” is simply written on the inside of the new card,

The publication comes after a year marked by illness for the royal family. Not only Kate had to undergo chemotherapy, but also King Charles III. is being treated for an unspecified cancer. William recently described the past few months as “the most brutal year of my life.” In an interview during his South Africa visit: “It was terrible. But I’m so proud of my wife and my father for the way they handled it.”

On December 19th, it was announced that William and Kate did not attend the traditional pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace. They are already in Norfolk with their children preparing for Christmas. A royal source confirmed to the newspaper that the absence had been planned well in advance. The family is looking forward to spending Christmas as usual with the royal family in close circles at the Sandringham country estate.

The pre-Christmas lunch at the palace is a long-standing tradition of the British royal family. It also enables those family members who are not part of the inner circle of the Sandringham Christmas society to celebrate together. King Charles arrived at the palace at around 11 a.m. with his private secretary Sir Clive Alderton. The guests included his siblings Prince Edward and Princess Anne and of course his wife Queen Camilla. However, his brother Prince Andrew did not appear. According to media reports, due to the scandal surrounding an alleged Chinese spy who had won his favor for years.

Kate, who has been gradually returning to public engagements since September, was last seen at her Together At Christmas event at Westminster Abbey on December 6th. William recently revealed that the royal family would celebrate Christmas with 45 family members “all in one room” at Sandringham. The couple’s three children have been on their Christmas holidays since last Friday – their school, Lambrook near Windsor, will not open its doors again until January 8th.