Royal Christmas Tree Trimming, part one

I'm the oldest an I'm having the ladder - Christian of Denmark leads the way as the royal children of Frederik VIII's Palace get ready for Christmas

(photo detdanksekongehus Facebook)

It's that time of the year when the royals of Europe dig out the ladders, the ancient and no doubt extremely valuable baubles and even, on occasion, the national costume (we're looking at you, Queen Sonja) and start trimming the tree. We'll no doubt be treated to several royal Christmas tree decorating sessions in the days to come but props to the Danish family for getting the festive party started with some special photos shared on social media.

Here's one they made earlier - the royal Christmas tree at Frederik VIII's Palace for 2016

(photo detdanskekongehus Facebook)

Thanks to Facebook and some snapping by Crown Princess Mary herself we got to see Christian, Isaballa, Vincent and Josephine in action as they decorated the tree at Frederik VIII's Palace, the part of Amalienborg they call home. Mum also added a picture of the finished product - whether this is how the kids left the tree or whether this is how it looked after Mary and Fred had been in for a bit of a tidy up isn't made clear. It looks lovely, either way.

🎁 1. december ”Juletræet med sin pynt”. På Kongehusets Instagramprofil vil der frem til juleaften blive ”åbnet” en låge med billeder og håndskrifter fra den private samling i Hendes Majestæt Dronningens Håndbibliotek. Dronningen har selv været med til at sammensætte julekalenderen, og dagens billede er fra juleaften 1987, hvor der pyntes juletræ i Kancellihuset på Fredensborg Slot.

A photo posted by DET DANSKE KONGEHUS (@detdanskekongehus) on Dec 1, 2016 at 12:00am PST

Maybe they got some inspiration from the new Danish Royal Family Instagram account which has been sharing memories of Christmas past every day for Advent. Among the images we've been treated to is a rather retro one of Queen Margrethe decorating a tree in 1987. Many things have changed in that time, even Daisy's hair, but the Danish royals have kept to keeping a jumbo tree. The other ruling houses of Europe had better take note - as Christmas tree decorating season gets under way, the bar has been set pretty high. Bring on the royal baubles.