It won't be a Sandringham Christmas for the York sisters. Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, are not spending Christmas with the British royal family this year. Instead, they have other plans. (And so do their parents.)
Christmas will look a little different -- OK, maybe a lot different -- for Beatrice and Eugenie. The 36 and 34-year-old British royals won't, per Hello! Magazine, join fellow members of The Firm at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, as is tradition.
Instead, the York sisters are expected to celebrate Christmas with their in-laws, joining their respective husbands for the holiday. "[I]t was decided earlier this year that Beatrice and Eugenie will spend the festive period with their respective in-laws for the first time since their marriages," the outlet reported.
Eugenie's husband is Jack Brooksbank, a 38-year-old marketing executive. The two married in October 2018 at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, the same place Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed only five months earlier. They have two sons, August and Ernest, and split their time between the U.K. and Portugal. She and Brooksbook were previously said to have received an invitation from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to spend Christmas in Montecito, California.
As for Beatrice, she married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in July 2020. Together, they have a daughter, Sienna. Beatrice is also stepmom to Mozzi's son, Wolfie. The pair are adding to their family, with a baby on the way.
What about the York sisters' parents, Sarah and Prince? The Duke and Duchess of York won't reportedly be at King Charles III and Queen Camilla's Christmas festivities. Instead, they're having a much more low-key celebration at their longtime home, the Royal Lodge, in Windsor, England. (The same property Andrew and King Charles have been fighting about for the last year.)
According to BBC, the decision to spend the holiday privately comes amid reports of Andrew's connection to an alleged Chinese spy. In the outlet's words, the 64-year-old royal is expected to "honourably [sic] withdraw" from the royal family's Christmas events to "avoid being a distraction."
Beatrice and Eugenie's plans for Christmas come after a rare sighting of them together with their parents over the 2023 holiday season. For Christmas last year, Beatrice and Eugenie, along with their husbands, joined Andrew and Ferguson, as well as other royals, at Sandringham to celebrate. Most notably, it included walking to church on Christmas morning.
This year, however, the entire York family is celebrating the holiday privately. So, don't expect to see them bundled up in coats and waving to well-wishers on Dec. 25, 2024, alongside the likes of the king, Queen Camilla, Prince William, and Kate Middleton.