Celebrity How Prince George and Princess Charlotte Broke Royal Tradition on Christmas By Alicia Brunker Alicia Brunker Instagram Alicia Brunker is a freelance writer who covers celebrity, royal, and fashion news for InStyle.com. She joined InStyle's digital team in 2017, and previously contributed to ELLE, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and WWD. InStyle's editorial guidelines Updated on December 26, 2018 @ 03:30PM Pin Share Tweet Email Despite their fancy royal titles, Prince George, 5, and Princess Charlotte, 3, are just like other children. And it seems like mom Kate Middleton even allowed them to bend royal rules to provide them with an extra sense of normalcy at Christmastime. The Mirror reports that the Duchess of Cambridge told a fan on her way to the British monarchy's annual church service that George and Charlotte got "up very early" on Christmas morning to open their gifts — presumably from Santa. Karwai Tang However, unwrapping gifts on Christmas Day is a break in royal tradition. It's known that the royals open their presents on Christmas Eve given Queen Elizabeth's German ancestry. "The royals are of German descent so they weave in German traditions to their celebrations. After afternoon tea, they open gifts on Christmas Eve, as is the German tradition," former royal chef Darren McGrady told Good Housekeeping in 2016. On Tuesday, Kate and her husband, Prince William, attended church service in Norfolk without their little ones, who participated in the holiday custom two years ago when they were in Buckleberry, Berkshire with the Middletons. Maybe this year, they were too busy breaking in their new toys. Can you blame them?