Why Meghan Markle’s mum won’t be spending Christmas with the royal family after all

Christmas is just a few days away.

And the royal family have been in full holiday-planning mode, attending a number of festive events and sharing their personal holiday cards. The rest of their Christmas plans, though, have remained largely under wraps so far. However, it looks like there may be a major guest missing from the festivities this year. It had previously been reported that Queen Elizabeth had expended an invitation to Christmas dinner to Meghan's mum, Doria Ragland. A source told the Sunday Express at the time:

"It's a mark of the Queen's respect for Meghan and an acknowledgement that she doesn't have any other relations in this country - unlike Kate who has the support of a very close family."

However, it has now emerged that she may not be visiting Sandringham estate for the holidays after all. On Yahoo UK's The Royal Box, royal correspondent Victoria Murphy revealed:

"My understanding is that she’s not going. “I don’t think that’s because they weren’t able to or anything like that, I just think it’s not usual for in-laws to go. "I know it was suggested that she was going to go, but that was never confirmed."

The reason why does make a lot of sense, especially as Kate Middleton's parents have not yet spent a Christmas at Sandringham with the royal family - although they have attended Christmas mass. While Ragland's Christmas plans are still unclear, Meghan and Harry will be reportedly spending the holidays at Sandringham - and not with Kate and William at their Anmer Hall home.