The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will spend Christmas at the Middleton family home, St James’s Palace said.
Prince William and his pregant wife are to spend the day privately in Bucklebury, Berkshire - a decision taken with the approval of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.
The royal couple also plan to visit the Sandringham Estate, in Norfolk, during the festive period.
A St James’s Palace spokesman said: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will spend Christmas Day privately with the Middleton family.”
The announcement that Kate and William would return to her parents’ home on Christmas Day comes after the Duchess was admitted to hospital for three days following a bout of severe morning sickness.
Kate left King Edward VII’s Hospital in London on December 6, following treatment for a condition known as hyperemesis gravidarum, which leaves expectant mothers so ill they cannot keep food or liquids down.
She was then ordered by doctors to have a period of rest at her home at Kensington Palace which meant she was unable to attend some engagements.
The decision to spend Christmas Day with the Middletons marks a change from last year when the Duke and Duchess joined other members of the royal family at Sandringham.
Members of the royal family would traditionally be expected to spend December 25 on the Queen’s Norfolk estate.
Last year, hundreds of well-wishers turned out to see the Duchess of Cambridge attend her first Christmas Day service at church in Sandringham.
But the Duke of Edinburgh missed the celebrations and instead spent four days at Papworth Hospital, in Cambridgeshire, following a procedure to clear a blocked artery.
It is unclear how long the Duke and Duchess will spend with the Middletons.
Kate’s sister Pippa has given an insight into her family’s festive plans.
Writing in the latest edition of The Spectator magazine, she said Christmas in Bucklebury was likely to be “blissfully calm”.
“Home is, happily, where I’ll be this year,” she said.
“The Middletons’ Christmas should be blissfully calm. We’re good at keeping each other’s spirits up.”
And she revealed that her father Michael liked to surprise the family by appearing in fancy dress.
“He buys a new costume each year and typically gets a bit carried away - a couple of Christmases ago, he appeared in an inflatable sumo outfit,” she wrote.
The Duchess’s return to the bosom of her family comes after a testing few weeks for Kate who was was forced to announce her pregnancy earlier than planned when she was admitted to hospital.
Days later she and Prince William found themselves offering their condolences to the family of nurse Jacintha Saldanha, 46, who took her own life after answering a prank call made to the hospital by two Australian DJs impersonating the Queen and Prince of Wales.
Ms Saldanha, a mother-of-two, transferred the call to a colleague who described the Duchess’s condition in detail. She was buried following a funeral in India on Monday.
The Duchess made her first public appearance following her hospital stay at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Awards on Sunday night.
Comments