Their annual stays in Norfolk became a festive tradition, while the comings and goings at a tiny country church were beamed around the world on Christmas Day.
So, will the Royal Family return to Nelson's County this December, where they have traditionally spent Christmas Day for more than three decades?
While this year will be tinged with sorrow following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in early September, King Charles III may well decide the traditional yuletide celebrations that the late monarch so fondly oversaw must continue.
From the Queen hopping on board the train to King's Lynn in her headscarf to the thousands of well-wishers who would gather in all weathers to greet the sovereign and her growing family, the Royals have been a part of the festive season in Norfolk for many years.
One of the first tasks on Her Majesty's to-do list after arriving at Sandringham would be a visit to the Royal Sawmills.
There she would choose the tree which would form the centrepiece in the ballroom at the great house among the pinewoods, like the tree in almost every home in every corner of the country.
As she stepped back to admire its lights and baubles, she may even have recalled the Christmas tree became a vital part of every home after a magazine published an engraving showing the decorated Christmas tree Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had brought to Windsor in 1848.
Albert was also one of the first to send Christmas cards in the 1840s. The advent of the penny post in 1843 meant millions could afford to follow suit.
The Norfolk Wildlife Trust was one of the first organisations to produce a charity card, by special permission of its patron King George V, in 1932.
While the Queen would usually arrive before Christmas, to cast her eye over everything from the arrangements for dinner to planning the menus for her corgis, the rest of her family would arrive in order of reverse seniority on Christmas Eve.
While most of us have to wait until the following day to open our presents, the Royal Family get to see what Santa's brought them on December 24 in a nod to their German origins.
While you might expect over the top opulence and priceless presents, the gifts lined up on trestle tables in the ballroom would be quite the opposite, with family members competing to see who could come up with the tackiest gift.
Christmas Day would see the paddock outside a pretty Norfolk church which seats around 50 filled with thousands, many of whom had queued from the early hours in the cold to get a decent vantage point.
While the Queen would arrive by limousine, most family members would walk the short distance from the nearby house for the morning service.
Until recent years, children would queue with flowers and cards for the Queen. But Royal aides put the kybosh on the touching spectacle, after so many children were in the queue Her Majesty was late for her lunch.
After sitting down to Norfolk turkey with all the trimmings - most of them grown on the estate - the Royals would join tens of millions at home and abroad as they sat down to watch the Queen's speech.
The December 25 address began when George V broadcast live to the empire from a makeshift studio at Sandringham in 1932.
King Charles' sojourn at Sandringham last weekend will almost certainly be the first among regular visits to the Norfolk estate he inherited on the death of his mother.
But even those you might consider to be 'in the know' say a decision has yet to be taken regarding the weekend of December 24 and 25.
The monarch wants to take a hands-on role of running the estate where he has turned to organic farming and stepped up conservation efforts.
It seems almost unthinkable that the new head of the Royal Family would not wish to conserve its rich connections with Christmas in Norfolk.
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