The Queen prepares for Christmas with 15ft tall tree in Windsor Castle

30 November 2019, 11:13 | Updated: 30 November 2019, 11:14

By Emma Gritt

@emmagritt

New photos show the interior of Windsor Castle's Crimson Drawing room - and there are enough decorations to cover a whole street.

It's not even December yet and thousands of people have already got their Christmas trees up... including the Queen.

New photos show one of the imposing drawing rooms at Windsor Castle getting prepared for the festive season, but there's no fake tree in sight, it's a 15ft Nordmann Fir tree especially selected from nearby Windsor Great Park.

Other big differences between HRH's tree and the average Brit's is the decorations.

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While the last few years has seen a boom in novelty and trendy decorations including avocados, dinosaurs, household items and even bottles of chilli sauce, its strictly traditional at Windsor Castle.

New photos show staff climbing ladders to carefully hand red and gold baubles, miniature crowns and antique silver-gilt pieces from the Grand Service.

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It's a lot of effort considering the Queen will just spend a few days in Windsor during December. Traditionally the family head out to Norfolk to their country house, Sandringham.

The Queen and Prince Phillip will welcome family on Christmas Eve, go to church on Christmas Day and then they will leave either late on Boxing Day or the day after.

The family honour their German heritage by swapping gifts on Christmas Eve, and as it's hard to buy for the family who have everything, they stick to joke presents, which are exchanged after a 4pm afternoon tea.

At 8:15pm it's a black tie dinner, before heading to bed ready for a busy Christmas Day, which kicks off with a fry up at 8:30.

Bizarrely, after having Christmas lunch at 1, the family will sit down and watch the Queen's speech on TV at 3pm.

Then it's a game of charades and a cold cuts buffet at 8:15pm.

Most of the Royal's Christmas traditions, including opening gifts on Christmas Eve, stem from Queen Victoria’s German-born husband Prince Albert, who shipped over a 26ft Nordmann Fir from his homeland.

This year, Prince Albert is back in the front and centre of the Royal family's thoughts as they celebrate what would have been his and Queen Victoria's 200th birthdays with a special display in Windsor Castle.