What are the royal Christmas cards trying to tell us?

It has become a seasonal tradition to look for hidden messages or symbolic meanings in the Christmas cards sent by the royals, as they keep changing and reinventing the format.

This year’s card features King Charles and Queen Camilla looking relaxed and perhaps relieved – and there’s a very personal significance behind this photo.

This was the first photoshoot since King was given the green light that he was healthy enough to return to public duties after beginning his cancer treatment. It was said that this was a memorable moment for the couple, captured on camera.

The same photos full of spring rebirth were used for the official announcement made by the king Sufficient progress in his treatment to allow him to return to public events,

There is also a pattern that even if these are Christmas cards, forget snowy spires and robins, as there is rarely any hint of winter in royal cards.

And the message printed in red always looks like a 1950s party invitation.

Prince Harry and Meghan have given their own twist to royal cards. They’ve added some sparkle so it has that same season’s greetings movie credit feel.

It’s an upbeat Californian message, sent as an e-card, containing six photos instead of a single image, showing the couple embracing and laughing. It also commented on the rare presence of his son and daughter.

If the cards had an accent, it would undoubtedly sound American. It’s a “Happy Holiday Season”, with no mention of “Christmas”. But still, he has spent most of his married life in America.

In recent years cards of Prince William and Catherine have used more informal images. It’s jeans and no tie, a modern family, without any royal image.

This year’s card kept the same casual style, but had a more poignant meaning. This was from the video in which it was announced Katherine completed her chemotherapy,

It shows William and Catherine and their three children in Norfolk In August, with a video that was filled with shades of the end of summer and very emotional messages about a difficult year since her cancer diagnosis.

It was a hugely different style of shamelessly royal communication about love and togetherness – and they’ve used it again for a Christmas card.

Last year, the card of the Prince and Princess of Wales was also a topic of discussion. It had the same jacket-off, casual image, but also a designer chic feel, with an artsy black and white illustration that wouldn’t look out of place in an expensive jeans ad.

The prince is very keen on sustainability, so maybe next year it will be made from recyclable seaweed.

Christmas cards can also be like time capsules, capturing a moment in time.

Prince William appears in this horrifying image with his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, and his brother Prince Harry in 1995. It’s truly reminiscent of another era.

Cards often convey a sense of family closeness.

The late Queen Elizabeth II was always photographed with Prince Philip. And King Charles and Queen Camilla have continued to use images of themselves as a couple.

Over the years it has had to be mixed with some props.

The photo, taken on a trip to Cuba for the 2019 card, featured the then-Prince Charles and Camilla in a vintage sports car. It was more or less made for the Prince of Wheels headline.

There was also a photo of the royal family standing around a speed boat in 1969, looking like the winners of a game show.

Christmas cards may be falling out of fashion – according to retailers John Lewis, sales of boxes of cards have fallen by 23% in a year.

But royals show no signs of losing interest – and that includes European royals… though their use of a family groupie in a luxurious room isn’t always so original.

Belgium’s royal card has a multilingual message, which is inclusive and reflects a multilingual country, but risks looking like a Eurostar menu. It is also unusually forward-looking, with a date of 2025.

This year the Spanish royals used their cards to send a more serious message. On the front was a standard family group photo, but inside was a poem that was a tribute to the victims of the Valencia flood.

Last month the king and queen of Spain were threw mud When he visited the flood affected areas.

You can’t say that Christmas card pictures are always predictable or easy to interpret.

What was the thinking behind the 2016 card that used a photo of Prince Charles and Camilla on a visit to Croatia? An unexpected Eurovision entry?

They might start out as greeting cards, but they soon become history. Like this touching wartime Christmas card from the then-Princess Elizabeth, sent in 1942. It shows a cap tilted, a young face looking towards an unknown future.

There’s often a hint of sadness in Christmas movies and songs, indicating the passing of time, and that’s there too here.

happy Christmas! It is in the post.