She’s one of the hardest-working royals in the world, so perhaps unsurprisingly, Queen Elizabeth actually starts signing her Christmas cards during her summer holidays. She will write on a stack of around 800 cards during her annual stay at Balmoral castle.

In recent years, it has become tradition for Princes William and Harry to play a Christmas Eve game of football alongside workers from the Sandringham Estate. The brothers usually wear the socks of their favorite teams (Aston Villa for William and Arsenal for Harry) before they start their kick-about.

On Christmas Eve, the family gathers for afternoon tea in the White Drawing Room at Sandringham, and former royal chef Darren McGrady has revealed that one of the family’s favorite tea items is the “jam penny” — sandwiches cut into circles the size of an old English penny. He also makes scones the size of a 50-pence piece.

When the royal family gathers for a black-tie dinner and drinks on Christmas Eve, the Queen favors a cocktail called the Zaza (made from Dubonnet and gin) and Prince Charles is a fan of cherry brandy, but both William and Harry both enjoy a pint of apple cider, which is grown on the estate.

The royals open their gifts on Christmas eve after their afternoon tea. The family are fans of gag gifts or homemade gems. For Meghan Markle’s first festive season with her in-laws in 2017, she went all out with the tacky present brief and gifted the Queen a singing hamster. According to The Daily Star, Megs’ move was a smash hit with the Monarch, who reportedly chortled: “It can keep my dogs company!”

The family rise early on Christmas Day and gather for breakfast before leaving the house for a 9am service at the church of St Mary Magdalene. This first service is a private one for the royal family. The family then go through a quick change of clothes before attending a public service at 11am.

Whether it’s for a state banquet or a family occasion, the Queen’s menus are always written in French, and Christmas Day is no exception. The family sit down to lunch in the Red Drawing Room — which is actually painted green — for turkey, sausages wrapped in bacon, brussels sprouts with chestnuts, and root vegetables.

After the public church services and dress-coded sit-down meals have been taken care of, the royal family might just gather in the evening to watch a movie, just like other families around the world. Except theirs take place in the Sandringham ballroom that is often used to host state dinners with visiting world leaders!

Most guests leave on Boxing Day to see other family members but the Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, remain until the second week of February, and the Christmas decorations stay up until then. Queen Elizabeth stays on to honour her father, who passed away at Sandringham on 6 February 1952.

20 years ago, close family members would not have been permitted to spend Christmas away from Sandringham. However, times are changing, as it seems William and Kate are alternating Christmases with each side of the family.

If the Royals are thinking of sleeping in the day after Christmas, forget about it because there’s a round of pheasant shooting on Boxing Day. It’s certainly worlds away from eating leftover ham and watching cringey Christmas movies like most of us do on the 26th!

While the Queen’s main job is to remain impartial to political matters, her annual Christmas speech is the one time of year she can express her thoughts outside of the government’s control. The 93-year-old monarch reportedly takes great pride in writing the speech herself and since 2019 has been a cracking year for the Windsors and we can’t wait to see how Her Majesty addresses all their triumphs.

This post was updated on 11 December 2019.