Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle will spend Christmas together at Sandringham this year, sources tell The Daily Beast, as the palace struggles to contain an explosive story of a rift at the heart of the royal family.
Despite rumors that Kate and William would skip Christmas at Sandringham this year in favor of spending the holidays with Kate’s parents, it has emerged that both the Sussexes and the Cambridges will attend church with the queen at Sandringham.
The Daily Beast suggested this weekend that “appearing together on Christmas Day will be a useful way for the Sussexes and the Cambridges to telegraph that there is peace between the two families, or at least a Christmas Armistice. For one of them not to show up would be a declaration of civil war.”
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Now, after rumors that the couples would spend Christmas Day hundreds of miles apart gathered a head of steam, the Sandringham attendance of Meghan and Kate has been confirmed in off-the-record briefings, with palace sources telling The Daily Beast that both the families would be in Norfolk for Christmas.
The unusual move to confirm the Christmas movements of the royals—usually there is no advance notice—demonstrates just how seriously the palace is taking the story of the rift, which it continues to push back against.
The potentially damaging narrative of a conflict between Meghan and Kate has been turbocharged by accounts of Meghan’s demanding behavior.
Over the weekend it was alleged that Meghan asked for air-freshening atomizers to be sprayed in the 550-year old chapel in which she wed Harry to rid it of a “musty” smell, while the Sunday Mirror reported that Meghan's personal assistant, Melissa Toubati, resigned after just six months, having broken down in tears over the stress of her job.
A source said: “She put up with quite a lot. Meghan put a lot of demands on her and it ended up with her in tears.”
