Princess Anne kicks off royal family Christmas traditions at St James's

Princess Anne brought some early festive cheer to London this week.

The Princess Royal hosted her annual Christmas Tea Party for The Not Forgotten Association at St James’s Palace on Thursday, November 27, along with her husband, Sir Tim Laurence. The royal couple met with over 200 guests at the event, which honours ex-servicemen and women.

The Not Forgotten Association, of which Anne is patron, has supported 10,000 beneficiaries annually since its founding in 1920. This year’s gathering also honoured the 80th anniversaries of VE and VJ Day, reflecting on the organisation’s 105-year legacy of helping veterans reconnect, rebuild confidence, and find renewed purpose through entertainment and respite events.

Among the attendees were Ruth Barnwell and Dorothea Barron, both 101, who served in Women’s Royal Naval Service during WWII. Barnwell noted that Anne always “stops and chats,” while Barron labelled her “the absolute brick of the Royal family," per The Independent. 

Also in attendance were Strictly Come Dancing stars Kristina Rihanoff and Pasa Kovalev.

The tea party marked another busy outing for King Charles III’s younger sister this week as she heads into the holiday season. Days earlier, Anne appeared at The Royal College of Physicians to speak about the importance of food education as patron of the British Nutrition Foundation.

During her address, she stressed that children are never too young to learn about nutrition, telling attendees, “It really does make a difference to raise that level of respect for nutrition at all levels, at all ages. Food education, wherever you're coming from, should never be left out.”

Later that day, the Princess Royal visited the University of Hertfordshire to officially open SPECTRA, a new £100 million building dedicated to physics, engineering, and computer science.