26 December 2023 , 11:08
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex enjoyed a family Christmas at home in California yesterday.
It is believed that Prince Harry, 39, and 42-year-old Meghan Markle invited close friends and Meg's mum Doria Ragland to celebrate the festive period with them and their children Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 2. And according to sources, their day was a much more lowkey affair than enjoyed by the rest of the Royal family 5,500 miles away in Sandringham, Norfolk.
An insider told US Weekly that the couple will be "cooking, playing games and swapping gifts", adding that "they have a tough time trying not to spoil the kids too much."
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Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Prince ArchieThe former royal spoke about his first Christmas without his family in his explosive tell-all, Spare, which released earlier this year. He explained that in his and Meghan's first Christmas away from the royal family back in 2020, the pair bought a "magnificent" tree for their Montecito home.
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He added that they had purchased "one of the biggest spruces" from a pop-up in Santa Barbara, and decorated it with a very special ornament that paid tribute to his family in the UK. The couple opened presents on Christmas Eve, in line with Harry's UK traditions and Meghan made him feel both "happy" and "weird," he wrote.
"One present was a little Christmas ornament of...the Queen! I roared. What the—? Meg had spotted it in a local store and thought I might like it. I held it to the light. It was Granny’s face to a T," Harry said in his memoir. "I hung it on an eye-level branch. It made me happy to see her there. It made Meg and me smile."
He went on to share that their son Prince Archie, then 19 months old, had a small accident with their tree and the ornament that Meghan had bought for him. "But then Archie, playing around the tree, jostled the stand, shook the tree, and Granny fell. I heard a smash and turned. Pieces lay all over the floor," Harry explained.
"Archie ran and grabbed a spray bottle. For some reason he thought spraying water on the broken pieces would fix it. Meg said: No, Archie, no - do not spray Gan-Gan! I grabbed a dustpan and swept up the pieces, all the while thinking: 'This is weird.'"
The last time the Sussexes spent Christmas with the Royals was in 2018. The couple had yet to welcome Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Harry and Meghan are said to have joined the late Queen Elizabeth II for her annual lunch at Buckingham Palace on December 19 that year. It came seven months after the couple had got married in their royal wedding.
The pair later reportedly spent Christmas Day with the late monarch at Sandringham. Other guests are said to have included Prince Harry's brother Prince William, now 41, his wife Kate Middleton, now 41, and their three children
Although it's claimed that Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, haven't received an invitation to join his family, it's been suggested that the couple would consider accepting one. It would mark their first Christmas with his relatives in years.
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