Expert Katie Nicholl has explained that the future Queen "puts duty before self", meaning that this year she will forfeit spending Christmas with the Middleton family in order to rally around the Queen instead. This year will be the first Christmas the Queen spends without her late husband Prince Philip, and also comes in the wake of a series of health issues faced by the 95-year-old.

       Ms Nicholl said: "In the early years of being a family, they did try to alternate Christmas, one year with The Queen and the Royal Family and the next year with the Middletons, but Kate and William put duty before self and we can see that, more now than ever.

       "So there is a sacrifice on Kate's part because Christmas is a very big thing for the Middleton family, but they put The Queen first and make sure they are there on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Sandringham.

       "But, it's probably a lot of fun for the Cambridge children that they get to celebrate Christmas twice - once with their great-grandmother and the Royal Family and then again with the Middletons at their Bucklebury home."

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       Additional reporting by Millie Cooke