How Meghan and Harry are spending their Christmas this year – away from Sandringham
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Harry and Meghan likely to spend Christmas with Doria Ragland in California. As the royal family prepares to gather at the Sandringham estate for their annual Christmas festivities, it seems unlikely that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be joining them.
![[It is believed the couple will spend Christmas with their children and Meghan’s mother in California]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/16/19/newFile-3.jpg)
The last time Harry and Meghan spent Christmas with the royal family was in 2018, making this the sixth consecutive year they have been absent from the Norfolk celebrations. Instead, the couple is expected to mark the holiday at their Montecito home in California, joined by Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, and their children, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3.
![[Meghan said her favourite Christmas ritual is trimming and decorating the tree with Archie and Lilibet,]](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2019/12/24/10/-110290520-cardss.jpg)
Reports suggest no invitation was extended to the Sussexes for the Sandringham festivities, where the King, Queen, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, along with their family, will reunite. However, Harry has previously shared that some royal Christmas traditions live on in his own family. Among them is the custom of opening presents on Christmas Eve, a nod to the cherished ritual in Sandringham’s White Room.
![[They last joined the Sandringham festivities in 2018]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/08/02/12/GettyImages-1086570358.jpg)
In his memoir Spare, Harry reflected on his family’s first Christmas Eve in the United States in 2020. He wrote: “We took Archie to find a Christmas tree. A pop-up lot in Santa Barbara. We bought one of the biggest spruces they had. We brought it home, set it up in the living room. Magnificent. We stood back, admiring, counting our blessings. New home. Healthy boy.
