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Why Meghan Markle & Prince Harry May Not Be Spending Christmas Morning Together

I have no way of knowing what Meghan Markle was picturing her first Christmas morning as a member of the British royal family might look like. Maybe she was hoping to sleep in with her new husband since she's pregnant and all. Or maybe she was thinking it might be nice to go for an early walk around the grounds of whatever castle she might be staying at. She does seem like someone who would want to partake of a nice, healthy walk. Unfortunately, it sounds like the Duchess of Sussex won't be doing either. In fact, if they stick to this old-fashioned tradition, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry won't be spending Christmas morning together, as The Mirror reported.

The entire royal family is expected to spend Christmas at Queen Elizabeth's country home in Norfolk, Sandringham Estate. Meghan Markle will of course be included as the Duchess of Sussex and the wife of Prince Harry, and in fact this will be her second Christmas with the royals. Her first was last year as Prince Harry's newly-minted fiancee.

But it seems things might look a little different for the married couple on Christmas morning this year; because in the royal family, it's traditional for the married women to spend the morning apart from their husbands, according to The Mirror.

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As Queen Elizabeth's former chef Darren McGrady told the Mail on Sunday, the women are generally expected to have a light breakfast in their rooms while the men head on downstairs for a big, hearty breakfast together.

As McGrady said, according to The Daily Express, "On Christmas Day, the ladies generally opt for a light breakfast of sliced fruit, half a grapefruit, toast and coffee delivered to their rooms."

So, perhaps not the opulent life of a royal Markle might have pictured on her wedding day.

I'm sorry, but this breakfast sounds like the sort of thing I eat when I'm punishing myself for eating all of the good things. And it certainly doesn't sound like something Meghan Markle, a foodie and co-author of Together, a bestselling cookbook, would be interested in eating on a holiday. Especially when she hears what the guys will be getting at their big, communal breakfast downstairs.

McGrady told The Daily Express: "Male royals, meanwhile, come downstairs to the dining room for a hearty breakfast at 8:30am with eggs, bacon and mushrooms, kippers and grilled kidneys, to set them up for the 11am church service at St Mary Magdalene."

So wait; the women have to eat a half a grapefruit in their lonely bed while the men get to eat eggs and bacon and hang out? This doesn't seem fair.

Why is this a thing, you might ask? Well, royal butler and etiquette expert Grant Harrold told Fabulous Online that this is an old tradition within the British aristocracy. "The reason it happens is because it's an old tradition that when a couple are married, the gentleman would come down for breakfast and the ladies would remain upstairs," he told the outlet.

As for the single ladies, it seems they have a separate set of rules entirely. As Fabulous Online reported, "All the ladies would have breakfast in bed apart from the single ladies. The single ladies have to be seen as 'sociable' whereas the ladies who were married didn't have to come down and socialize."

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Meghan Markle will reportedly be spending Christmas with Prince William and Kate Middleton at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, along with their three kids and her mom Doria Ragland, so maybe it will look a little different.

Or maybe she'll still get breakfast in bed, but just better grub. Because that, to me, sounds like the perfect trade-off.

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