The royal family have released their 2023 Christmas cards - and they're complete opposites

Every Christmas fans eagerly await the release of the official royal family Christmas cards.

This year the King and Queen are dressed in their coronation finery, a very royal and formal picture, while the Prince and Princess of Wales and their young family are dressed casually, smiling at the camera.

The King and Queen’s image was shot by Hugo Burnand, the official coronation photographer. Taken at Buckingham Palace on May 6, shortly after the newly crowned King and Queen returned from Westminster Abbey, it shows the couple standing side by side.

The King is wearing the Imperial State Crown and coronation tunic as well as the purple silk velvet and gold-embroidered Robe of Estate. The Queen wears the Queen Mary’s Crown, with her own hand-embroidered Robe of Estate.

The Wales family, in contrast, are wearing crisp white shirts and jeans. The Princess is wearing minimal jewellery and has loose hair, while Princess Charlotte, 8, has her long blonde hair down.

She and Prince Louis, 5, wear slip-on trainers, while Prince George, 10, seems to have graduated to the same suede boots favoured by his father.

George wears a Ralph Lauren shirt, a brand favoured by his late grandmother Diana, Princess of Wales.