The Duchess of Sussex was not at Sandringham, but there was a member of the Royal Family who benefited from a tradition that was broken for the former American actress.
Princess Margaret’s grandson Samuel Chatto was allowed to invite his girlfriend Eleanor Ekserdjian to stay at the Norfolk retreat.
She was able to do so after King Charles followed the lead of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, who allowed Meghan Markle to join the festive gathering in 2017, five months before she exchanged vows with Prince Harry at the Chapel of St. George, at Windsor.
Meghan was the first person allowed to spend Christmas at Sandringham before marrying into the Royal Family.
Kate Middleton, for example, had to wait until she became Duchess of Cambridge and Sophie Rhys-Jones did not stay until she married Prince Edward and received the title Countess of Wessex.
“This is a clear sign that there will be a royal wedding in the new year,” enthuses one Windsor watcher.
Princess Margaret’s grandson Samuel Chatto and his girlfriend Eleanor Ekserdjian at Sandringham yesterday. Eleanor was allowed to stay at the Norfolk retreat over the festive period.
Richard Eden revealed in 2021 that Sam, 28, had started dating Eleanor, who is an artist and also 28.
King Charles at Sandringham on Christmas Day. Eleanor was able to stay after the King followed the lead of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, who allowed Meghan Markle to join the festive gathering in 2017.
I revealed in 2021 that Sam, 28, had started dating Eleanor, who is an artist and also 28 years old.
Sam, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, not only struck up a romance with the London-based painter, but also became her muse.
Eleanor told me at the time, “We’re a couple.”
Inspired by her new love, the art teacher’s daughter began representing Sam in her work.
An Eton-educated ceramist, Sam comes from an artistic family: his mother, the King’s cousin Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, often submits her artworks for the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition, and his father is the actor turned artist Daniel Chatto.
Sam, who was left heartbroken when he broke up with his first serious girlfriend during the Covid lockdowns, was invited to Buckingham Palace earlier this year for the State Banquet honoring the Emperor and Empress of Japan.
Last year, Chatto undertook an apprenticeship with ‘porcelain master’ Yagi Akira in Japan. Some of Sam’s porcelains were part of an exhibition in Somerset, mounted by Hauser & Wirth, whose gallery his cousin, Princess Eugenie, is associate director of.
After the late queen broke tradition for Meghan, Princess Beatrice’s then-fiancé, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, was allowed to stay at Sandringham for Christmas 2019. The couple married the following year.