The Queen Personally Prepares Christmas Cards

Another one of the royal family’s warm traditions—this one being practiced solely by the queen—is Christmas card signing. Queen Elizabeth II takes time during her Summer holidays to personally sign and stack all the Christmas cards for the following winter festivities. She includes people like notable politicians, state leaders, her own childhood friends, and others. She also arranges Christmas trees to be taken from Sandringham House, her own property, to children in local schools. The Queen will sign her cards with either “Elizabeth R.” (Regina is Latin for queen) for more formal needs or simply “Elizabeth” for her friends. For her cousins, she uses “Lilibet”, her nickname from when she was a child.