Inside Royal Family’s lavish Christmas – extravagant baubles ‘the size of footballs’ to hilarious novelty presents

Every Christmas, each royal residence receives a glamorous glow-up. Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh are the focuses for the festive transformations and the complex preparations are overseen by a vast ‘bling’ squad, involving florists, exhibition staff and curators from the Royal Collection Trust (RCT). The number of trees used varies from year to year but one thing never changes: the challenges faced by the project team.

At 60ft, the ceiling of St George’s Hall is three times that of an average two-storey house.

“The rooms are so large the decorations have to be proportionately upscaled so they have an impact,” Sally explains. “Some of the foil decorations we use on the St George’s Hall tree at Windsor are over 50cm in diameter. And many of the baubles are larger than footballs, but look normal against the tree.

“But probably our biggest challenge is that the installations have to work around our visitors, staff, guests to royal events and the residents themselves.”

Keeping the trees fresh could be problematic, but the team has its ways. “An ingenious watering system in the tree stands helps to keep the trees happy and vibrant,” explains Hannah. “But in some of the more restricted spaces, due to the humidity, we have to reuse artificial trees.”