Meghan Markle joins Harry, William and Kate for Christmas Day service at Sandringham
MEGHAN Markle stole the show when she appeared at the royal family’s Christmas service, walking arm-in-arm with Prince Harry.
MEGHAN Markle has become the first fiancee to join the royal family for their Christmas Day morning church service.
Markle arrived arm-in-arm with her future husband Prince Harry along with Prince William and Kate, reports The Sun.
Crowds filled the grounds of the church in Sandringham, Norfolk, to welcome the Royals with some calling out “Merry Christmas” as they walked past.
Wearing a brown beret and a beige coat, Markle smiled as she joined the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Markle smiled and gave a brief wave in her first public appearance with the Queen. She and Harry stopped to talk with several locals on their way back to the Queen’s residence.
William and Kate also stopped to talk with area residents who had waited in the cold for a chance to give flowers to the royals.
It is the first time Kate and Markle have been pictured together since Markle and Prince Harry announced their engagement last month.
The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting her third child just before the couple are due to get married at St George’s Chapel in Windsor on May 19.
The Queen, dressed in orange, was also in attendance and waved to the crowds gathered at St Mary Magdalene Church.
It comes as the world’s longest-serving monarch televised her 60th Christmas address to the globe, citing the “blessings of home and family”.
The Queen said in her brief broadcast that the royal family looks forward “to welcoming new members into it next year.”
Joining her was her husband Prince Philip and their children Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Price Edward.
Prince Andrew’s two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, also came for the Christmas Day service.
With them was Prince Edward, the youngest of the Queen’s four children, and his daughter Lady Louise Windsor.
Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips arrived for the service with his wife Autumn and his stepfather Sir Timothy Laurence.
The Duchess of Cambridge wore a velvet lined coat by Miu Miu worth more than £2665 ($A4616) and a Kiki McDonough hat worth £2900 ($A5023).
Markle wore a Sentaler camel coloured coat costing nearly £1000 ($A1732), and a Maison Birk hat worth £1000 ($A1732).
Markle had a £900 ($A1559) Chloe handbag in brown leather and caramel suede with a gold-coloured handle. She also wore Stuart Weitzman boots worth £1000 ($A1732).
She was also wearing a pair of Maison Birk diamond earrings.
Markle seemed comfortable walking to the church arm-in-arm with Harry. She and Kate curtsied in front of the queen after the service was over.
Her first curtsy has been well received in the US and UK, where some of the British press have praised her, saying she performed the perfect curtsy. But others suggested her curtsy still needs work.
Markle, not surprisingly, was a hit with the crowd.
“She was very, very lovely,” said Judith Wallis, a woman who chatted briefly with the couple. The crowd was larger than in previous years, perhaps because of curiosity about Markle.
She said Harry also recognised her teddy bear called Maureen, which is a mascot for Armed Forces charity SSAFA, and her hat which bore the Gurkha regiment emblem.
Tess Gilder, manager of the Park House Hotel where Judith is staying, was with her when the Royal couple approached them.
She said of Meghan: “She was just so natural, so lovely.”
She added: “I think they just wished us a Happy Christmas and were interested in whether we had been before.”
The Queen and Prince Charles’ wife, Camilla, rode to and from the service in a chauffeured Bentley with a horse-themed hood ornament, perhaps chosen by the queen, who loves horses and horse racing.
The Royal Family had a private lunch scheduled after the church service, with turkey reared on the estate featured on the menu.
Markle, 36, who is in Sandringham with Prince Harry for the festive occasion, is also likely to have watched the Queen’s Christmas message with members of the Royal Family.
Elizabeth, 91, and Philip, 96, missed last year’s church service because they were suffering from the flu, but they seemed in good health during Monday’s brief appearance. Philip walked back to the Queen’s house with other royals, but Elizabeth opted to be driven.
This story was originally published in The Sun and is reprinted with permission.