The Royal Family will be returning to Norfolk this week for their first Christmas without Queen Elizabeth II.

King Charles and Queen Camilla will host family members at Sandringham House, the much-loved country retreat amid the pine woods and rolling fields where they have gathered for decades. 

It will also be the first time the family has gathered in Norfolk for three years because of lockdowns.

Family members usually arrive on Christmas Eve, when presents are usually opened in a nod to the royals' German roots.

Each of the King's siblings - the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and Earl of Wessex - will be joining him, along with the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three children.

Queen Camilla's children Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes have also been invited. 

But the King's youngest son the Duke of Sussex, his wife Meghan Markle and their two young children are expected to remain at their home in California.

Relations between the couple and the rest of their family have become frostier than the recent cold snap after the release of the Harry and Meghan documentary series on Netflix.    

On Christmas Day the King, Queen and family members traditionally attend morning service at the tiny Sandringham Church.

Wellwishers will queue from the early hours to get a vantage point along the path they will walk along from Sandringham House and large crowds are expected to travel to see them this year, along with the world's media .

Afterwards, the family return to the house for Christmas lunch of Norfolk turkey and vegetables grown on the estate.

They will then sit down like millions around the world to watch the King's Christmas message - a tradition which began at Sandringham in 1932, when King George V addressed the nation and Commonwealth on live radio.

Queen Elizabeth II also delivered her first Christmas address as monarch from Sandringham in 1952.

King Charles's first festive speech is certain to touch on his late mother's 70-year reign before she passed away at Balmoral on September 8.