On Christmas morning, the royal family does their walk to morning service that includes what many of us call the Christmas walkabout. This walk to church often draws a decent crowd of people looking to get a glimpse of the royals and maybe even give them a gift.
And there were certainly plenty of gifts handed out in 2024, and a few cute moments that left us wondering whether or not the royal children get to keep the things they are given. At one point during the Christmas walkabout, Prince William directed Princess Charlotte to someone who had flowers for her, and he could be heard joking that it is easy to determine which child gets what. He shared that the flowers go to Princess Charlotte, while Prince Louis and Prince George get the chocolates.
As People Magazine points out, there were other gifts besides chocolates and flowers handed to the Wales' children, including a silver egg cup and spoon featuring an image from King Charles' coronation on it that was gifted to Prince Louis by a 6-year-old in the crowd named Rupert. Rupert had apparently received the same piece in his stocking and wanted Prince Louis to have his own. And of course, in some of the images from the walkabout, we also saw stuffed animals in the children's arms.
So do the royal children get to keep their gifts?
Technically, the royal children can keep the gifts that they were handed on Christmas morning
There are rules that must be followed that do allow members of the royal family to keep the gifts that they are given. And according to Hello Magazine, there is an official gift protocol that does allow the the royal children to keep the gifts that they were handed on Christmas morning.
The royal protocol breaks down as follows: "royals including George and his siblings can accept gifts from individuals not personally known to members of the royal family, including the public, if they fulfill the following criteria: Flowers, foodstuff, and other consumable items (within reasonable quantities); copies of books presented by the author, provided the subject matter is not controversial; and, other items of small monetary value, i.e. items costing less than £150."
Based on what we saw Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte and Prince George carrying during the Christmas walkabout, it seems like they were able to keep everything they were gifted by the public. So that means Prince Louis was even able to keep his gift from 6-year-old Rupert!