Prince William and Kate Middleton pull out of Buckingham Palace pre-Christmas lunch

The Prince and Princess of Wales are skipping today's annual pre-Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace today.

The annual lunch is held for all members of the Royal Family and usually takes place around a week before Christmas, with around 70 of the King's relatives invited to the bash. It offers the family a chance to catch up as not all of them will be joining the festivities at Sandringham, including the walk to church and Christmas dinner on December 25 itself.

It had been expected that William and Kate would attend with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, however, they have already begun their Christmas holiday in Norfolk so won't be at the event in London. A royal source said the family are already in Norfolk, as had been planned, and are looking forward to spending time with the rest of the royal family in Sandringham over Christmas.

For the past two years, King Charles has held the party at Windsor Castle but it has returned to be held at Buckingham Palace today, where the late Queen nearly always hosted the lunch. But despite the extensive guestlist, another royal set to be missing from the event today is Prince Andrew.

The beleaguered royal will no longer join the party amid the ongoing furore over his relationship with alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo. Andrew has decided to stay away from the festivities this year in light of his latest scandal. It is understood it is Andrew's ex-wife Sarah Ferguson who advised him to keep a low-profile and stay away from the Palace soiree. Furthermore, the former couple have decided to remain at their home in Royal Lodge on Christmas Day, rather than travel to Sandringham with the rest of the family, to avoid further embarrassing the King.

Today's event is private one so no pictures are released from inside, however Mike Tindall, who is married to the King's niece Zara Tindall, once previously dished on the event. And even though children such as George, Charlotte and Louis are invited to the event, he revealed they don't even sit with the other royals - and instead, they have their own room with the other royal kids, where they enjoy their Christmas meal.

He explained that the royal little ones, including his children Mia, Lena and Lucas, have their own table in a separate room away from the adults. He said: "This is the family lunch, there were seven tables so there must have been about 70 of us there. The kiddies have their own little one in a different room."

Christmas for the royals comes at the end of a highly challenging year for the family following Kate's cancer diagnosis and subsequent chemotherapy treatment, as well as the King's cancer battle. In September, the princess released a highly personal video, where she revealed her chemotherapy treatment had finished and that she was doing all she could to remain "cancer free".

She also spoke of how she was "looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months". In recent weeks, she has attend Remembrance weekend events while in the summer she was at Wimbledon for the men's final and she also made an appearance at Trooping the Colour in June. Kate also took part in the Qatar state visit to the UK in early December as part of her gradual return to royal duties.

Earlier this month at her Christmas Carol Concert at Westminster Abbey, the princess also reflected on ther tough 2024. She was heard telling singer Paloma Faith: "I didn’t know this year was going to be the year I’ve just had." When Faith replied "the unplanned", Kate said: "The unplanned, exactly. But I think lots of people this year have had such challenging times."

William, Kate and their children along with 45 other members of the Royal Family will be at Sandringham for Christmas next week, where they are expected to take part in the annual walk to church on Christmas morning.