King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, Unveil First Christmas Card of Their Reign

Reuters | December 12th, 2022

The 74-year-old monarch and his wife, Camilla, Queen Consort, have chosen a photograph taken by Samir Hussein at the Braemar Games just a few days before Queen Elizabeth died. Photo: Jonathan Brady/Pool Photo via AP/Canadian Press

King Charles has unveiled his first ever Christmas card as monarch.

The 74-year-old monarch and his wife, Camilla, Queen Consort, have chosen a photograph taken just a few days before Queen Elizabeth died as the image on their annual festive greeting, with the picture taken by Sam Hussein at the Braemar Games on 3 September.

The card was shared on the royal family’s official Twitter account, along with a caption which read: “We’re pleased to share this year’s Christmas Card from The King and The Queen Consort.

“[Photo by] @samhussein, taken at the Braemar Games in September 2022.”

In the picture, the couple were seen sharing a joke with Charles — who wore a kilt to the games — in profile wearing a brown jacket and a tie with green and red stripes, while his wife opted for a forest mini coat with red trip and buttons and was smiling across at him.

At the time, Charles and Camilla enjoyed the games with his sister, Princess Anne, but the Queen had pulled out of attending just days before because of her health issues.

Sources told the Daily Telegraph newspaper there was no hidden message behind the choice of photograph but the couple simply liked the image.

Meanwhile, the King recently admitted he is “frightfully over-ambitious” and loves tackling “the most difficult challenges”.

Speaking on A Royal Grand Design — a documentary about his plan to restore the 18th century Dumfries House estate — he said: “I wanted to try and make a difference to the local area. It had many of the worst indices of unemployment and ill health and everything else.

“I’m one of those people who rather likes taking on the most difficult challenges. I felt it was worth taking this appalling risk and taking out such a big loan.

“This area has been so battered and deprived, particularly since the loss of the mining industry and everything.

“That’s my problem — I’m frightfully over ambitious. I long to use this model in other parts of the country where I know it can make a big impact on people’s lives and livelihoods and their whole future and their families’ futures, which is what matters to me.

“I hope there’ll be another project fairly soon somewhere, which could be quite large, and hopefully there will be other opportunities. We’ll see. I haven’t given up yet … watch this space, as they say.”

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