The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge allegedly “mingled” with Prince Edward and his family at the royal estate. William, Kate, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis attended a public attraction which was also visited by the Earl of Wessex, his wife Sophie and their children Lady Louise Windsor and James Viscount Severn.
They royals were visiting Luminate, a Christmas-themed woodland walk at Sandringham, on Sunday evening.
The two families arrived at the public event separately and royal insiders have claimed there was no intention of meeting up as a party of nine.
But as the royals walked around the trial, the two groups were seen mixing and chatting while sticking to social distancing, according to reports.
The Sandringham estate is currently in Tier Two restrictions under the Government’s guidelines.
Under the restrictions only six people can meet outdoors in the areas if they are not in the same household or support bubble.
The limit includes children of any age, according to official guidelines.
A member of the public, who pictured the royals on their phone, told the Daily Mail they had seen the two families “mingling” several times.
One of the photographs shows the nine royals walking together followed by bodyguards.
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“They were obviously all having a fun evening out.
“You could tell that the royal youngsters were having a great time.
“But I couldn’t help thinking that it was one rule for them and another for the rest of us. It was really quite blatant.”
On Sunday night, royal sources suggested however that any contact was unintentional.
They told the Daily Mail: “The two families were given separate consecutive slots to visit the trail just before it opened to the general public. They arrived and departed in their own family groups.
“As anyone with young children will know, there were moments on the 90-minute walk where it was difficult to keep the two family groups apart, particularly at bottlenecks on the trail.”
For the last ten days, the Cambridge family have been staying at Anmer Hall on the Sandringham estate.
The Cambridges had reportedly planned to spend Christmas with Kate’s family in Berkshire but had to change their plans due to the pandemic.
The family travelled to Sandringham before Tier Three and Tier Four rules were introduced in London which prevented non-essential travel from the capital.
Edward and his family travelled to Norfolk from their home in Surrey.
Express.co.uk have approached representatives of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for comment.
