The Reason Queen Camilla’s Kids Are Skipping the Royal Christmas Celebration

As King Charles III and Queen Camilla unveil their official Christmas card this year, attention is inevitably drawn to the family members who will not be present at Sandringham for the holiday celebrations.

On December 7, 2025, the royal couple released their annual Christmas card, featuring a portrait taken in the springtime gardens of Villa Wolkonsky in Rome.

Shared via the royal family’s official social media channels, the image captures the monarch and queen during their state visit to Italy earlier in the year, smiling warmly under the soft April sunlight. The card carries the understated message: “Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.”

However, the photograph also quietly underscores the notable absences in the family this festive season. Despite Queen Camilla’s wishes last Christmas, her two children, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, will once again spend the holiday apart from the royal household.

Although Sandringham extends an annual invitation to family members, the Queen has not traditionally spent Christmas Day with her children. Following King Charles III’s cancer diagnosis last year, she reportedly made a heartfelt appeal for her family to be present, hoping for a rare reunion during a challenging period.

Tom, a well-known food writer and columnist, spoke openly about his mother’s request. “My mum said, ‘I’d love you to come; I haven’t had Christmas with you for a long time,’” he recalled. “It has been a hell of a two years for them. The older you get, the more conscious you become of mortality, especially with illnesses and the rest of it.”

The royal family has indeed faced significant health challenges in recent years. While King Charles III continues treatment for cancer, Queen Camilla has only recently recovered from pneumonia, which she contracted after returning from the couple’s 2024 tour of Australia and Samoa.

Despite her previous plea, neither of her children will be attending this year. “I’m not [spending Christmas at Sandringham],” Tom confirmed. “Nor is my sister. It’ll be every other year, one year on, one year off.”

Instead, he plans to celebrate Christmas Day at his former wife Sara Buys’ west London home, where he shares two teenage children, Lola and Frederick. “It’s back to the sofa at my ex-wife’s,” he noted, describing a familiar, if less regal, tradition. For Tom, the holiday has long revolved around spending time with his children.

“For the past 15 years, it has been — I go back to my ex-wife’s house, sit in my tracksuit bottoms, go to the pub while the beef’s in, then try to get my children to watch ‘The Wild Geese.’ Classic,” he revealed.

Queen Camilla’s daughter, Laura Lopes, will also not attend Sandringham this year. An accomplished art curator and gallery director, she has established a private life outside the public eye. Laura is married to chartered accountant Harry Marcus George Lopes, with whom she shares three children. They were married in 2006 at St. Cyriac’s Church in Wiltshire.

Although neither of the Queen’s children hold royal titles, both have maintained close ties with their family while pursuing independent careers. Tom, who has authored seven cookbooks and won the Guild of Food Writers award in 2020, has also faced personal tragedies. He dated former journalist Alice Procope from 2019 until her death in 2021, seven months after her cancer diagnosis.

Reflecting on his mother’s earlier years, Tom has spoken about feeling protective during what he described as “the bad days” of the mid-1990s, recounting aggressive paparazzi encounters and “high-speed chases down the M4” that left lasting impressions.

This year’s royal Christmas will once again proceed without Queen Camilla’s children in attendance. Their absence, however, should not be mistaken for estrangement or disconnection.

As preparations continue at Sandringham for the holiday season, Queen Camilla’s role remains a balancing act between tradition and personal family ties — even if, once more, her children will celebrate elsewhere.