Prince William, Kate Middleton Christmas gifts from public: Where they go?
The Prince and Princess of Wales appear to be the popular royals in the public, given the amount of attention they receive during any royal engagement.
While the couple were quite well-loved as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, they have seemingly command attention even more as the future king and queen.
The love the British people have for William and Kate is often reflected in the number of gifts they receive during festive time, especially Christmas.
A royal aide previously revealed that the public would actually “horrified” to hear how many gifts the royals get because “they gets loads”.
“I didn’t see everything that came in because there were so many,” King Charles’ former butler Grant Harrold told Fabulous magazine.
“Most of the presents would be sent to the Palace. Interesting people didn’t ever send them to the homes unless you knew the home address. They’ll go to the palace, and they’ll be inundated.”
The former butler shared that no presents were returned unless there was a reason, such as “something was too extravagant”.
He shared the presents would be all logged, catalogued since every single gift cannot be presented, and samples are put out for the royals to look at and read.
What happens to gifts sent to royal family?
When Prince William, Kate or any other members of the royal family accept the gifts, they are under no circumstances allowed to be sold. However, they can be used, displayed, become part of the Royal Collection, or donated to charity.
Per the official website, a person can send flowers, foodstuff, copies of books presented by the author, and gifts worth less than $190.
Meanwhile, gifts offered by UK residents, who don’t know the royal personally, not personally known to members, could be refused if there are “concerns about the propriety or motives of the donor or the gift itself.”
Other than that, no gift is refused to ensure no offence is caused by the action.