The Prince and Princess of Wales have attended Westminster Abbey with their children for her annual carol service.
William arrived with Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7, for her fifth Together at Christmas service on Friday evening (local time).
It was the first time the Wales family have been seen together in public since their appearance at Trooping the Colour, the King’s birthday parade, in June.
The Princess told Bastille singer Dan Griff, one of several celebrity guests, that her children were “really excited, it [the service] has become such a tradition”.
The Princess has dedicated the 2025 service to “you and the love you have shown”, with a congregation made up of charity fundraisers, community volunteers, fellow cancer patients and those who have shown “love, joy and compassion to others in their time of need”.
At the service, the Prince of Wales gave a reading, their children added their names to a “connection tree” and actor Kate Winslet delivered a self-written message on love.
The Princess arrived wearing a Catherine Walker & Co coat that she first wore in Ireland five years ago, with a £65 ($150) faux fur collar from Troy London.
She previously wore the look for a reunion with the late Queen in Windsor in December 2020.
Its festive hue could also be seen as an homage to the late Duke of Edinburgh, who was associated with this particular shade of “Edinburgh Green” as it was his livery colour.
The line-up of performers this year included young people from Future Talent, the musical education charity founded by the Duchess of Kent, who died in September.
Other guests were Dame Mary Berry, who designed a wreath; Eugene Levy, the actor who interviewed Prince William for a documentary this year; and World War II veterans Jack Mortimer and John Eskdale.
Levy said it was “lovely to meet” the Princess, who said to him: “You know my husband very well now”.
The Prince spoke to the Canadian for his The Reluctant Traveller programme this year.
“I had a lovely day with your husband,” Levy told the Princess.
“I hope he looked after you,” the Princess said, to which Levy said: “He did look after me, yes, he did”.
The Princess, in a letter handed out with the Orders of Service to 1600 guests, thanked members of the congregation who had made an “extraordinary difference to the lives of others”.
She also extolled the virtues of the Christmas period, saying that life may feel “fragmented or uncertain” at times, but the festive season “invites us to remember the power of reaching out to one another”.
Prince William gave a Bible reading about the shepherds learning about the birth of Jesus.
Winslet read a passage she wrote herself on the theme of love.
She said: “Love doesn’t always arrive wrapped in ribbons. Love can be expressed in how we treat one another, with kindness and grace.
“It’s in the laughter shared across a table, a hand held in comfort, the courage to reach out to someone who might otherwise be alone. Christmas is about giving.
“But maybe we can think about being ‘present’ as our Christmas present to those we love and to those who need to feel comforted and heard.”
Guests were invited to add their names on to loops, to be strung on a “connection tree”, said to symbolise the “power of togetherness”.
Katie Melua, Fisherman’s Friends, Griff, and Smith of Bastille all performed. Actor Hannah Waddingham was scheduled to sing but had to pull out after temporarily losing her voice while filming. She took a seat with the congregation to watch instead.
Poetry included Wendy Cope’s The Christmas Life, Clement Clark Moore’s A Visit from St Nicholas – known for its opening line “Twas the night before Christmas” and read by actor Chiwetel Ejiofor – and William Morris’ Love is Enough.
Among the guests were members of England women’s rugby World Cup winning squad, some of the Wales women’s rugby team, and Michelle Agyemang, a member of England Women’s Euro 2025 winning team.
Lewis Moody, the former England rugby captain who recently announced he has motor neurone disease, was invited, as was Steven Frank, the 84-year-old Holocaust survivor who was photographed by the Princess in 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust.
The nation’s World War II veterans were represented by Jack Mortimer, a corporal with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps who landed on Sword Beach on D-Day, and John Eskdale, who saw combat with the Malta Convoys in 1942 and was involved in the invasion of Sicily in the summer of 1943.
Katherine Field, who met the Princess at the Royal Marsden Hospital and was photographed wearing a cold cap as they talked about their experiences with cancer, was also invited.
Ambassadors and friends of the Royal Horticultural Society, gardener Arit Anderson, florist Simon Lycett and TV presenters Angelica Bell and Tom Allen all made wreaths, with the help of school children, that were on display in the abbey.
Among those invited to the service were schoolgirl Madison Reed, who last year raised more than £1360 for the Archie Foundation, which supports sick children, by Highland dancing in 26 locations across Scotland, each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet.
Also included was Ann Davies, an 80-year-old cook who has spent a decade with the Moses Project, a charity providing mentoring and support for men with past and current addictions to drugs and alcohol. Clients there are known as “her boys”.
Another 15 community carol services will be held across Britain, with each congregation receiving a copy of the Princess’ letter.
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