It's already been a historic Christmas - with the Queen's sad passing meaning many traditions of a lifetime have changed. But it's not just Christmas which will be different for the royal family this year, New Year's eve will also be unusual as King Charles takes the lead to welcome in 2023.
Little Louis made it to church with King Charles on Christmas Day
In the past, the Queen was often observed seeing out the current year with a trip church for the New Year's Eve service at St Mary Magdalene in Sandringham - the same church that the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children George, Charlotte and Louis attended on Christmas morning this year. The highlights of that outing can be seen in the video below!
WATCH: Christmas with the royals: highlights of their outing to church!
The New Year's Eve church tradition had fallen away in recent years due to Covid restrictions and the Queen and Prince Philip's fading health. But it is hoped that this year, King Charles will revert to the tradition and give royal followers a final opportunity in 2022 to see the royal family in the comfortable and familiar surroundings of their beloved Sandringham Estate.
It is then usual for the monarch to attend a New Year's Day service in Sandringham - something again that ill health and pandemic restrictions had prevented for the Queen in recent years. It seems likely that King Charles however will be keen to bring in the new year with a public visit to his local church, and he's likely to be accompanied by any friends and family members who didn't make it up to Sandringham for Christmas. Princess Anne wasn't able to make it to church on Christmas day as she was suffering from a cold, so royal watchers will be hoping she may make an appearance.
King Charles is expected to return to the church he attended with his family on Christmas morning
It seems unlikely that we'll get a chance to enjoy the antics of the Prince and Princess of Wales' children at church again - usually they celebrate New Year with Kate's parents in Buckinghamshire, as they are often apart for Christmas.
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But we're sure that the royal family WhatsApps will be pinging at midnight as they do for all of us across the world, wishing one another a Happy New Year - as we know that the royals have family WhatsApp groups, and that they all like to stay up to see the new year in.
Even the Queen, in her 90s, was reported to always stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve - with her former private secretary Sir William Hesletine revealing that the staff at Sandringham would stay up too: "Nobody felt it right to go to bed before the queen did," he revealed. And after midnight celebrations and a lot of church services, it's expected that the royal traditions of shoots and horse riding through to New Year will continue for King Charles, as they did for his mother for many years.
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