Buckingham Palace has released King Charles’ third Christmas card as monarch, featuring a sweet photograph of the king with his wife, Queen Camilla.
The image was taken by Millie Pilkington in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, captured in April when the foliage behind the royal couple was full of pink and purple flowers.
In the photograph, Camilla, 77, is seen wearing a blue wool crepe dress by Fiona Clare, with her arm around her husband.
Charles, 76, wears a light gray suit and a blue patterned tie, smiling with his hand in his pocket.
The card is a radical departure from the formal image their Majesties chose last year: an official coronation photograph taken by Hugo Burnand in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace.
That year, the photo showed the King wearing the Imperial State while Camilla wore Queen Mary’s Crown. Both were dressed in the robes of the state.
An inscription inside last year’s letter read: “I wish you a very Merry Christmas and New Year.”
Speaking of his experience as a coronation photographer, Hugo Burnand, who also photographed Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, described the atmosphere in the throne room as “cozy” during the photo shoot.
He added that there was a “lovely buzz” as he prepared and took the coronation images.
Buckingham Palace has released King Charles’ third Christmas card as monarch, featuring a sweet photograph of the king with his wife, Queen Camilla.
The image was taken by Millie Pilkington in the garden of Buckingham Palace in April 2024.
Hugo, who has a royal warrant from the king as a portrait photographer, was also Charles and Camilla’s wedding photographer in 2005.
However, he was not behind the first Christmas card Charles sent as monarch in 2022, which showed a closer shot of him and his wife.
Taken by award-winning photographer Sam Hussein, it showed the royal couple at a Highland Gathering just days before the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
A smiling Charles and Camilla were photographed smiling while attending the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering on September 3, five days before the Queen died on September 8.
The photograph captured the now King in side profile, dressed in a tweed suit and a red, green and beige tie.
Meanwhile, Camilla was seen sporting a green suit and matching hat with a pheasant motif and pearl earrings.
During the event, Charles officially opened a new structure to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee as he joined spectators at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park for the annual Highland Games event.
It marks a certain departure from the more formal image their Majesties opted for last year: an official coronation photograph taken by Hugo Burnand in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace.
The King and Queen’s Christmas card for 2023 shows Charles and Camilla inside Buckingham Palace shortly after the coronation in May.
The photograph was one of several taken of the King and Queen in all their royal attributes on coronation day (pictured: another in the series of photographs)
It was noted that Queen Elizabeth II was not present due to her poor health.
Charles cut a rope of briar to mark the opening of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee Arch.
Crowds from around the world joined him and the then Duchess of Cornwall to watch competitors take part in events such as caber throwing, hammer throwing and tug of war, as well as celebrating some Scottish traditions, dance and music. of long standing.
Camilla and the Princess Royal were presented with heather bouquets from Chloe Guy, 10, and Cassie Stewart, 12, both members of the Braemar Royal Highland Society dance class, before the Games began.
Camilla appeared taking a bouquet of flowers and put it in her buttonhole, as could be seen in the photograph of the Christmas card.
There are conflicting reports about when the tradition of royalty sending Christmas cards began.
Some say it was in 1914, when King George V and Queen Mary sent them during the First World War, to share a message of goodwill with the troops and their families.
King Charles III’s first Christmas card since ascending to the throne will be published in December 2022
The Palace released the image selected for the couple’s first Christmas card, saying it was taken by award-winning photographer Sam Hussein.
This image shows a Christmas card from the late Queen and Prince Philip.
However, according to the Royal Trust Collection: “Following the introduction of the penny post, the first Christmas cards were sent in 1843. Members of the Royal Family often selected a recent family photograph for their personal Christmas card.”
A huge collection of real Christmas cards went on sale last year, including festive images from almost every year between 1953 and 1989.
The cards were kept by Commander Sir Philip John Row, who was Deputy Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth II between 1958 and 1968 and was then appointed Additional Equerry to the Queen Mother in 1969.
They were auctioned at auctioneers Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury, Wiltshire, in November.
The collection showed how the Royal Family had evolved over four decades, featuring three generations, from the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, their children and Princes William and Harry.
A Christmas card signed by King Charles III and Princess Diana is being sold on eBay and could be yours for £2,000
The list of the ‘rare’ royal find, from 1985, features a photo of the couple with their children, Princes William and Harry, who were then three and one years old.
In the first letter, the now King was only five years old, while in a later one he was represented as an adult with his two children.
Among the cards are some from the 1950s showing Charles with Princess Anne as children, and Princes Andrew and Edward in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Meanwhile, the 1960 card shows the family in Balmoral’s front garden with baby Andrew, while baby Edward appears in a pram in 1964 with the family huddled around him.
The 1978 card shows Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip next to a fireplace, and the 1981 card shows newlyweds Charles and Princess Diana.
Sir Philip John Row joined the Royal Navy in 1922 and in the Second World War served on HMS Kent in the Arctic Convoys.
Charles and Diana photographed on Christmas Day 1981, after a service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor.
He was also aboard the Kent for Operation Mascot, one of many attempts to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz.
His 20 medals include the Royal Victory Order, the Badge and Collar Star of the Knight Commander, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and the French Legion of Honour.
Speaking at the time of the sale in 2023, Ned Cowell, militaria specialist at Woolley & Wallis, said: “Their collection of royal Christmas cards from 1953 to 1989 provides a fascinating record of the first half of Queen Elizabeth’s long reign.
‘It’s interesting to look at the cards and see how the chosen photographs evolve over a period of almost 40 years.