Santa and the Royals, for St Nicholas' Day

St Nicholas and some royal friends on December 6th past

(photo koninklijkhuis.nl)

December 6th is the feast of Saint Nicholas and while the original was a bishop from Greece, he was also the forerunner of Father Christmas. And what would Christmas be without Santa Claus? So in honour of his feast day and the approach of the festive season, here are five royals with different versions of St Nicholas and Father Christmas.

Queen Maxima, while still a princess, took her three girls along to the traditional Saint Nicholas festivities in 2012 and waved along with the man himself as the party got underway

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Princess Charlene of Monaco got to meet the man himself when she helped her husband give out gifts at the traditional presents ceremony at the Royal Palace in 2012

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The Queen always gets plenty of presents as she leaves church on Christmas Day but in 2004 there was an extra special bunch of flowers from a man dressed as Santa

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The Duchess of Cornwall loves a trip to the Horse of the Year Show just before Christmas and in 2014 she bumped into Father Christmas backstage.

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 She'd already had a close encounter with Santa when she and Prince Charles switched on the Christmas lights in Tetbury, Gloucestershire in 2012. Charles kept it formal - if anyone can shake hands with Father Christmas, it's an heir to the throne.