The Queen got into the festive spirit as she joined children with life-shortening conditions in Queen Victoria’s former sled.
Every year, Queen Camilla hosts families supported by charities Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahl‘s Marvellous Children’s Charity. Her equerry decorates a tree with them and they receive gifts from Santa.
Lunch served by a Queen
After a lunch of bangers and mash served by the Queen, she said to the children: “I say this every year, to me it’s the start of Christmas, I haven’t really got my head round it till I come here, and I realise it’s about to happen.
“It’s so lovely to have you all every year and I’m so proud to be patron of two such wonderful charities.”
She added that the charities do so much for the children and their parents and said they were quite literally “life-savers”.
Samuel Soremekun, aged six, who has sickle cell disease and autism, was so excited he kept saying: “It’s the Queen, It’s the Queen”, as Queen Camilla held his hand.
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He made everyone laugh again when he pointed to a member of her entourage and asked: “Is that the King?”
Samuel’s mother, Toyosi Valogun, said: “He was so excited to meet the Queen, he would not sleep. He’s so curious of everything and is not scared of anything – he’s so cheeky.”
Festive activities
The Queen met the children and their parents after they had received teddy bears from Father Christmas.
She chatted to Myra Murphy, aged 10, who has the rare and severe genetic disorder Mirage syndrome and told her as one of the oldest children there, she should be “head girl”.
The Queen’s outgoing equerry Major Ollie Plunket was joined by his successor Major Rob Treasure in decorating the Christmas tree.
They both used their swords to place ornaments picked out by the children on the tree’s topmost branches.
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After lunch, the children watched as reindeers Blitzen and Dancer were fed moss by their handlers.
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The Queen invited her young guests to join her in the sled, designed by Prince Albert in 1842 as a gift for his wife and restored six years ago.
Samuel and Myra were among the first to sit beside Queen Camilla on the sleigh’s red velvet seat, with Santa behind them.
