Prince William and Princess Kate share annual family Christmas card

Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Prince William attend the Ceremonial Welcome for the The Amir of the State of Qatar on December 3 in London. Photo / Getty Images

The Prince and Princess of Wales have shared their annual family Christmas card.

Prince William and Catherine, both 42, took to their official Instagram account on Thursday (local time) to share the sweet card, which features an informal picture of the royal couple with their three children - Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6 - in the countryside.

They captioned the post: “Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas.”

The card simply reads: “Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.”

The photo is not a new one, but is from the family’s summer holiday, first shared by Kate in September when she revealed she’d finished cancer treatment.

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A post shared by The Prince and Princess of Wales (@princeandprincessofwales)

The couple were absent from King Charles and Queen Camilla’s pre-Christmas luncheon at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, as they are already in Norfolk at their Amner Hall home for a festive break.

Prince Andrew – the king’s brother – was also absent after hitting the headlines over his connection to alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.

The couple are set to reunite with their family at Sandringham on Christmas Day, a celebration Andrew has reportedly also been excluded from.

It’s been a tough year for the royals after Catherine and Charles, 76, were both diagnosed with cancer.

The princess touched on the “challenging times” at her annual Together At Christmas carol service earlier this month.

Catherine, who underwent a course of chemotherapy and was declared cancer-free, spoke about her health struggles at Westminster Abbey on December 6.

Speaking to Paloma Faith, one of performers at the event, she shared: “I didn’t know this year was going to be the year that I’ve just had.

“But I think lots of people this year have had such challenging times, many who are here today.”

The event will air on Christmas Eve on British TV channel ITV.

Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales attend the Ceremonial Welcome for the The Amir of the State of Qatar on day one of his State Visit to the United Kingdom on December 3, 2024 in London. Photo / Getty Images

Catherine recently revealed her focus is to “stay cancer-free” after finishing her treatment.

The royal - who has been married to Prince William since 2011 - admitted it had been an “incredibly tough” period for herself and her family.

She said on X: “As the summer comes to an end, I cannot tell you what a relief it is to have finally completed my chemotherapy treatment. The last nine months have been incredibly tough for us as a family. Life as you know it can change in an instant and we have had to find a way to navigate the stormy waters and road unknown.”

The princess also described her cancer journey as “complex, scary and unpredictable”.

Earlier this week, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, also shared their annual Christmas card.

The card included a rare photo of the couple with their children, Archie and Lilibet.

Archie, 5, and Lillibet, 3, have largely been kept out of the spotlight and are rarely seen in photos.

The Sussexes chose to share a selection of highlights from their year on the holiday card, including Harry and Meghan on their four-day tour of Colombia in August and the family-of-four on a walk.

- Additional reporting by NZ Herald.