The hidden details inside King Charles’ first Christmas card

This photo provided by Buckingham Palace on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022 has been chosen for King Charles III and the Queen Consort's 2022 Christmas card. The photograph was taken at the Braemar Games on the Sept. 3, 2022 by Samir Hussein. (Samir Hussein/Buckingham Palace via AP)

Business as usual – that’s the message of King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s first Christmas card. This may have been a momentous year for many reasons, not least the death of Elizabeth II. But here is a reassuring paean to the unchanging values of a 1000-year-old monarchy.

So what is our King telling us? First there is time and place: taken on September 3, only five days before the Queen’s death, the picture neatly spans an era from one monarch to the next. Location is the Braemar Gathering, known as the Games, which themselves go back to the 11th century.

The Games have been a favourite of the royal family since 1848, when Queen Victoria first attended. Four years later, in 1852, Prince Albert bought the Balmoral estate, strengthening the ties to Scotland further.

The late Queen Elizabeth was known to be a tremendous fan of the Games; Braemar was one of the annual events she never missed. So when the King, then Prince of Wales, was seen standing in for her this year – the first time she’d missed the event in her 70-year reign – we realised the natural transition from monarch to heir was happening.

King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort have released their 2022 Christmas card. Photo / Samir Hussein

This helps to explain why the picture was chosen. It seems to signify that to Charles III, Scotland is as important a part of the kingdom as his other realms. He is keen to do his bit to maintain and bolster the union. Indeed, the royal family remains a not-so-secret weapon in the struggle to avoid the SNP’s demands for schism.

Before the 2014 referendum on independence, Queen Elizabeth made an unprecedented intervention, saying to a wellwisher outside Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral, she hoped the Scottish people should “think very carefully about the future”.

Queen Elizabeth and her family spending summer in Balmoral. Photo / AP

And there was speculation that the Queen choosing to remain at her beloved Balmoral right at the end of her life – as well as the way her epic funeral march began in Scotland – was no coincidence.

So here, in this Christmas card, we see those links strengthened once again. The couple’s dress is also significant, both in traditional Highland dress.

Although the picture is a head-and-shoulders crop, King Charles is wearing a kilt – Stewart Hunting ancient – and sporran, with his sgian-dubh, the Highland knife, thrust into his right sock. As is customary, the kilt is paired with a tweed jacket and waistcoat – and a shirt the colour of lavender heather that matches the sprig in his buttonhole. The shield on his lapel is the badge of the Braemar Gathering and the silver one, the Gordon Highlanders.

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on the Balmoral Estate in 2006. Photo / Getty Images

Camilla is in a green tweed coat and bonnet, set off with a trim of red and green Rothesay tartan. The Duke of Rothesay is one of the Scottish titles held by the Prince of Wales. She will have to update that for next summer’s games, perhaps to Royal Stewart or Balmoral; the right to wear either of these belongs in the gift of the Sovereign.

Like Charles, Camilla is wearing a thistle, this time in the shape of a diamond and amethyst brooch.

More likely, it is another mark of respect to Scotland and its highest order of chivalry, The Order of the Thistle, founded in 1687 by James VII of Scotland.

What of the feather in Camilla’s bonnet? Although it’s probably from a pheasant, the jaunty adornment is a nod to the eagle feathers worn in the bonnets of the Royal Company of Archers, the monarch’s Bodyguard for Scotland for 200 years. The Archers played a prominent role in guarding the Queen’s coffin as it processed through Scotland and laid in state in St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles attend the Royal Company of Archers Reddendo Parade in the gardens of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on June 30, 2022. Photo / Getty Images

The King’s pose on the Christmas card is interesting, too, as it reflects the pose in profile in new coins, notes and stamps since his accession to the throne – although, on the coin, he faces left while in the Christmas card he faces right. The Queen Consort is looking up, deferentially and adoringly, at her husband and king, as he looks forward, confidently, to the future.

The distinction between reigning monarch and consort is accentuated by the King being in the foreground in sharp focus and his wife being in the background, lower down, and in soft focus.

Although royal cards often centre on family, we can all guess why no children or grandchildren are in the picture.

Like Charles’ love of Scotland, the late Queen delighted in pictures taken at Balmoral, everyone in kilts or tartan skirts. There was one moment of near-informality, in 1969, when the family were photographed next to a speedboat on the Royal Yacht Britannia. Perhaps it was a subtle hint that, yes, they were getting with the times.

Queen Elizabeth II, leaves the Royal Yacht Britannia, to inspect the 2nd Battalion of the Canadian Guard, on her arrival at Charlottetown, Canada in October, 1964. Escorting the Queen is Captain G. L. Simpson. Photo / AP

One of the earliest royal cards with a photograph was issued in 1914, at the outset of World War I, with George V in military uniform, and Queen Mary. That isn’t surprising. George V’s granny, Victoria, queen of the modern Christmas, sent the first official card.

One can only wonder how she would view today’s offering from her great-great-great grandson, Charles III, and admire how cleverly he’s used her idea to further the relevance of monarchy and health of the union.