There are some royal family traditions that seem to be set in stone, while others are open to evolving with the addition of new family members and a growing group of younger royals, but while several people, including commoners, have married into the family over the last several years, Queen Elizabeth still runs a tight ship.
Express says that for years, the core members of the royal family, especially those in the line of succession, were expected to spend Christmas at the side of the monarch, but there are indications that this year, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge might be "breaking away" to spend Christmas Day with the Middleton side of the family.
The royal tradition has the family spending the holiday with the queen at her Sandringham estate in Norfolk for a country Christmas, but in the 1960s when most of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip's children were young, they tended to celebrate the holiday at Windsor.
But some of the hard and fast traditions still followed today started long before Queen Elizabeth was born.
Christmas Trees
It was German-born Queen Charlotte (the princess' namesake) which is said to have introduced the Christmas tree tradition to the royal family, which later spread to the rest of the world after the enthusiastic adaptation by Queen Victoria. The trees are put up in early December with decorations, and the royal family put the finishing touches on for Christmas Eve.
