The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent two Christmases together at Sandringham with Prince Harry’s royal relatives.

Meghan Markle spent two Christmases with the Royal Family (Image: PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Meghan Markle has been married to her husband, Prince Harry, for just over six years. However, the duchess has only ever spent two Christmas days with the Royal Family.

After her engagement to Prince Harry, 40, in 2017, the Duchess of Sussex was invited to spend her first Christmas at Sandringham, hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

She was invited again for her second Christmas in 2018, months after her big Windsor Royal wedding.

While she and Harry would have been invited back again in 2019 with their young son, Prince Archie, the couple instead opted to spend the festive season abroad. This was just months before they quit life as senior royals in 2020 and moved across the pond to California.

Since moving to America, both Meghan and Harry have not held back from talking about aspects of their royal life, including Christmas at Sandringham.

While the duchess, 43, has not always been complimentary about the Royal Family, she did make a surprising 10-word remark about what Christmas was really like with her in-laws on the Netflix docuseries Harry and Meghan, released in 2022.

She said: “It’s just like a big family, like I always wanted.”

Recalling a phone conversation she had with her mum Doria while at Sandringham for the first Christmas in 2017, Meghan said: “I remember so vividly the first Christmas at Sandringham, calling my mom, and she’s like ‘How’s it going?’ and I said ‘Oh my gosh it’s amazing’.

“It’s just like a big family like I always wanted. And there was just this constant movement and energy and fun.”

Meghan and Harry are not invited to Sandringham this year (Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Meghan Markle reportedly also spent the first Christmas dinner at Sandringham sat next to Prince Philip, which she said was “so wonderful”.

Prince Harry also spoke about the big day afterwards on BBC Radio 4’s Today Show. He said that same year: “The family loved having her there. I think together, we had an amazing time.”

The couple have not spent Christmas at Sandringham since 2018, marking Harry’s sixth year away from his royal relatives for the big day.

It is believed the couple, who have had some fractured relationships with the royals since leaving in 2020, did not receive an invite to Sandringham this year.