--- title: Here's How the Royal Family Celebrated Christmas 2017 description: Meghan Markle joined the royal family's customary Christmas Day appearance at Sandringham's St. Mary Magdalene Church on Dec. 25, 2017. canonical: https://time.com/5071768/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas-2017/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-25T14:31:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:23.239Z og:title: Meghan Markle Joined Prince Harry and the Queen for Christmas Day Mass og:description: As usual, the royal family spent Christmas at Sandringham og:url: https://time.com/5071768/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas-2017/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca3f8645c807a40/6988f681db298752b925e39e/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3044 og:image:height: 1712 og:image:alt: Meghan Markle Royal Family Christmas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meghan Markle Joined Prince Harry and the Queen for Christmas Day Mass twitter:description: As usual, the royal family spent Christmas at Sandringham twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca3f8645c807a40/6988f681db298752b925e39e/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Soon-to-Be-Royal Meghan Markle Joined Prince Harry and the Queen for Christmas Day Mass  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 25, 2017 2:31 PM UTC  Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, (L) and Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, (2L), US actress and fiancee of Britain's Prince Harry Meghan Markle (2R) and Britain's Prince Harry (R) stand together as they wait to see off Britain's Queen Elizabeth II after attending the Royal Family's traditional Christmas Day church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk, eastern England, on December 25, 2017. Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, (L) and Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, (2L), US actress and fiancee of Britain's Prince Harry Meghan Markle (2R) and Britain's Prince Harry (R) stand together as they wait to see off Britain's Queen Elizabeth II after attending the Royal Family's traditional Christmas Day church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk, eastern England, on December 25, 2017.Adrian Dennis—AFP/Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Dec 25, 2017 2:31 PM UTC The royal family, in keeping with tradition, spent Christmas Day at Sandringham, Queen Elizabeth II’s estate north of London — and this year, the clan was joined by soon-to-be royal Meghan Markle, who accompanied Prince Harry to the family’s customary holiday church service. Markle, clad in a beige coat and a brown fascinator, entered Sandringham’s St. Mary Magdalene Church alongside her fiancé_,_ Prince William and a [five-months-pregnant Kate Middleton](http://time.com/4985587/royal-baby-number-3-due-date/) and Prince Charles, [CNN reports](http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/25/europe/meghan-markle-prince-harry-christmas-intl/index.html). As is customary, the queen — who missed the service last year due to a heavy cold — led the family into the church.  Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attend Christmas Day Church service at Church of St Mary Magdalene on December 25, 2017 in King's Lynn, England. Chris Jackson—Getty Images While the royal family attends a Christmas Day service at Sandringham every year, it’s unusual that someone who has not yet married into clan would get the invitation, according to CNN. But that didn’t stop hundreds of revelers and well-wishers from gathering to glimpse the royals as they entered the church, with some lining up as early as 2:40 a.m. local time, [according to the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42477127). The [announcement that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry would join](http://time.com/5062382/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas/) the rest of the family for Christmas festivities also attracted quite a few Americans — and sparked at least a couple proposals. Two couples, one from Texas and one from Wisconsin, got engaged outside the church on Monday, the BBC reports. While the royal family makes its traditional public appearance on Dec. 25, holiday celebrations reportedly begin the day before, with gifts and a formal dinner, [according to _People_](http://people.com/royals/7-very-merry-royal-family-holiday-traditions/). After the church service, the royals enjoy a turkey lunch and gather to watch the queen’s Christmas Day address. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5071768/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas-2017/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5071768/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas-2017/"},"headline":"Soon-to-Be-Royal Meghan Markle Joined Prince Harry and the Queen for Christmas Day Mass","datePublished":"2017-12-25T14:31:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:23.239Z","description":"As usual, they spent Christmas at Sandringham","url":"https://time.com/5071768/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas-2017/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Royal Family","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca3f8645c807a40/6988f681db298752b925e39e/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca3f8645c807a40/6988f681db298752b925e39e/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Meghan Markle Royal Family Christmas","caption":"Meghan Markle Royal Family Christmas","creditText":"Adrian Dennis—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5071768/meghan-markle-royal-family-christmas-2017/","name":"Soon-to-Be-Royal Meghan Markle Joined Prince Harry and the Queen for Christmas Day Mass"}}]}] ```