In December 2012, three key members of the Royal Family were absent from the annual Sandrigham Christmas festivities.
While Prince Harry was 3,500 miles away fulfilling his RAF duties in Afghanistan, Prince William and Kate Middleton were forced to pull out last minute due to Kate’s severe morning sickness during her first pregnancy with Prince George, now 12.
A far cry from the pomp and ceremony of a royal Christmas – the Duke of Sussex traded a black-tie suit for an army uniform, while a banquet meal was replaced with a basic breakfast.
Yet Harry relished the simplicity of a Christmas on the frontline – with royal author Robert Lacey revealing in his book Battle of Brothers how Harry happily ‘put on a Santa hat to cook breakfast for his crew’ and ‘queued for his turkey dinner alongside thousands of other servicemen and women’.
In a bid to make the prince feel slightly more at home, his father, now King Charles, posted him Highgrove honey and a box of Cuban cigars which Harry traded happily for sweets and chocolates with his fellow officers.
Back at Sandringham, the late Queen Elizabeth II said prayers for Harry over their lavish Christmas lunch – comprising of roast goose or Turkey and all of the delicious trimmings.
Overseas, Harry, known as ‘Captain Wales’, was undergoing an extensive 18-week operation with his combat unit who were working tirelessly to defeat Taliban fighters.
The prince, now 41, was first deployed to Helmand Province as a forward air controller in 2007, but his first tour of duty was cut short.
In December 2012, Prince Harry (pictured) was absent from the Royal Family’s annual Sandringham celebrations as he was 3,500 miles away fulfilling his RAF duties in Afghanistan
Prince William (left) and Kate Middleton (right) had to pull out of the royal festive celebrations last minute due to Kate suffering from acute pregnancy sickness. Pictured: the couple leave King Edward VII hospital where Kate had been receiving treatment in early December 2012
Then, after qualifying as an Apache helicopter pilot in April 2011, he returned to Helmand the following December, by which time he was responsible for firing a 30mm cannon and Hellfire missiles.
For Kate and William, their absence from Sandringham was due to a deeply personal reason.
Behind closed doors, Kate was suffering from severe pregnancy sickness that, at one stage, saw her admitted into hospital for urgent treatment.
In late November 2012, during a visit to Cambridge, a well-wisher gifted William, now 43, a small baby grow printed with the words ‘Daddy’s little co-pilot’. Wearing a bright grin, the prince quipped: I’ll keep that’.
Unknown to the world, Kate was, in fact, just short of eight weeks pregnant. Only the parents-to-be alongside Kate’s mother, Carole, and sister Pippa knew.
Initially, the couple had decided they would broadcast their joyous news to the world at Christmas, not long after the baby’s first scan, royal author Katie Nicholl revealed in her book Kate: The Future Queen.
However, this plan had to be cut short as a result of Kate being diagnosed with Hyperemesis Gravidarum – a rare acute form of pregnancy sickness that poses a risk to mother and baby due to heightened dehydration and a lack of nutrients.
Then, in early December, the princess, now 43, was hospitalised in London due to concerns for the wellbeing of both the princess and the unborn baby.
With fears that Kate’s pregnancy could be leaked to the press, it was eventually decided that the Palace would release a statement confirming her pregnancy and her hospital admission.
In late November 2012, a well-wisher gifted William a small baby grow printed with the words ‘Daddy’s little co-pilot’. Wearing a bright grin, the prince quipped: I’ll keep that’. Unbeknown to the world, William and Kate were expecting their first child
At that time, William and Kate had only told Kate’s sister Pippa (left) and mother (Carole) they were expecting. The pair had initially planned to keep the pregnancy a secret until Christmas
While the Palace provided no confirmation on how many weeks pregnant Kate was, the statement on December 3 shared she would ‘stay in hospital for several days and require a period of rest thereafter’.
Ahead of the statement’s release, William spoke to his grandmother and father, while also emailing Harry in Afghanistan to inform him they were soon expecting a young royal.
The princess spent three days at King Edward VI hospital in London receiving treatment and was eventually given the all-clear from her doctors and allowed home.
However, given the severity of her illness, ‘it was agreed that it would be more relaxing to remain with her family,’ Ms Nicholl explained.
Unsurprisingly, William wanted to be with his wife, and in an unprecedented turn of events was also excused from the Sandringham festivities by the Queen and Prince Philip.
In an interview with Giovanna Fletcher in 2020, Kate reflected on her ‘utterly challenging’ experience with the condition and how ‘difficult’ it was for William to watch her ‘suffer’ with the acute sickness in all three of her pregnancies.
She added: ‘It was through this period of severe morning sickness that I truly grasped the incredible power of the mind over the body.
‘I was unwell, unable to consume the nourishing foods I should have been, and yet, miraculously, my body continued to extract the essential nutrients required to nurture new life. I find that absolutely fascinating.’
Kate remained in Berkshire with her family that year due to her ill-health. Unsurprisingly, William wanted to be with his wife and for the first time was excused from attending. (Pictured: the Royal Family arrive at Sandringham’s St Mary Magdalene Church in 2012)
Finding a positive in the rather awful ordeal, the princess also quipped: ‘Because pregnancy had been so challenging, I actually found labour quite enjoyable… because I knew there was an end in sight’
Harry has also reflected on that notable 2012 Christmas – sharing shortly after he returned from his deployment in Afghanistan that it had been a rather ‘joyful’ period for the prince.
When asked during an interview with the Daily Telegraph if he had killed during his deployment, the then 28-year-old prince responded: ‘Yeah, so lots of people have. The squadron’s been out here. Everyone’s fired a certain amount.’
In defence of his actions, he added: ‘Take a life to save a life, that’s what we revolve around. If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game.
‘I’m not here on a free pass… our job out here is to make sure the guys are safe on the ground and if that means shooting someone who is shooting them, then we will do it.’
In his tell-all memoir Spare released a decade later, Harry went into further detail about his time in Afghanistan, revealing for the first time that he killed 25 Taliban fighters during his second tour of duty.
The prince added that he did not think of those killed as people but, rather, ‘chess pieces’ he had taken off the board and that it was ‘not a fact that filled me with satisfaction but I was not ashamed either’.
Royal author Robert Lacey revealed in his book Battle of Brothers how in Afghanistan, Harry happily ‘put on a Santa hat to cook breakfast for his crew’ and ‘queued for his turkey dinner alongside thousands of other servicemen and women’
In his tell-all memoir Spare released a decade later, Harry (pictured) revealed for the first time that he killed 25 Taliban fighters during his second tour of duty. His decision to publicise the figure sparked a significant amount of public criticism which the prince refuted
Former British Army commander Colonel Richard Kemp described the Duke’s comments as ‘ill-judged’ and warned that his admissions could cause pro-Taliban sympathizers to be ‘provoked to attempt revenge’ against him.
Ben McBean, former Royal Marine commando, also criticised Harry for publicly declaring the figure and even suggested the revelation had broken an ‘unwritten rule’.
However, during an interview with The Late Show host Stephen Colbert to promote the book in early 2023, Harry strongly defended his decision to share the information and accused his critics of ‘spreading dangerous lies’ and ‘spinning his words’.
‘I think one of… the most dangerous lies that they have told is that I somehow boasted about the number of people I have killed in Afghanistan,’ he told Mr Colbert.
‘I would say that if I heard anybody else, anyone, boasting about that kind of thing, I would be angry. But it’s a lie. My words are not dangerous, but the spin of my words are very dangerous to my family.’
Adding to his defence, the Duke told People Magazine after the release of Spare that being open about his experiences in Afghanistan had also been an integral part of his own personal ‘healing journey’.
‘I don’t know that you ever fully reconcile the painful elements of being at war,’ he said.
‘Expressing and detailing my experience is how I chose to deal with it, in the hopes it would help others.’
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