REVEALED: Why the Queen keeps Christmas decorations up till February - it’s VERY emotional
WHILE most people have their Christmas decorations down by the end of January, with some considering it unlucky to keep them up beyond the beginning of the month, The Queen maintains hers well into February for a very special reason.
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Decorations at the Royal Sandringham estate in Norfolk are not removed until after February 6. This is where the Queen traditionally spends Christmas, accompanied by close family. Following her marriage to Prince Harry earlier this year Meghan Markle spent Christmas day at the estate for the first time.
The Queen likes to maintain the decorations at Sandringham into February as a tribute to her late father, King George VI.
He passed away on February 6 1952, aged 56, then the present Queen was just 25.
She learnt of his passing while visiting Kenya with her husband Philip, the future Duke of Edinburgh.
The Queen chooses to spend the anniversary at Sandringham each year to privately mark the occasion.
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She arrived at Sandringham on December 20, after travelling by train from London to King’s Lynn.
On the morning of Christmas Day she attended the nearby St Mary Magdalene church with other senior Royals.
Some consider it unlucky to keep Christmas decorations up beyond January 6, which marks the Epiphany, though The Queen does not appear to share this superstition.
Decorations at Sandringham are believed to be much more modest than those at The Queen’s Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle residences.
Queen arrives at Sandringham Church without Prince Philip
A month after his death The Queen wrote to Sir Eric Mievill, her father’s private secretary, expressing her sadness at his passing.
She commented: “It all seems so unbelievable still that my father is no longer here and it is only after some time has passed one begins to realise how much he is missed.”
King George VI came to the throne in December 1936, after his brother Edward VIII was forced to give up the crown during the abdication crisis.
Edward VIII abdicated after proposing to Wallis Simpson, an American divorce, in a move which was regarded as incompatible with his role as head of the Church of England.