The Queen will be keeping her Christmas decorations up for this heartbreaking reason

(Image credit: Getty Images)

As we enter 2022, it's safe to say that Christmas is truly over for another year.

The royal family however as always does things differently, and this month it's extending the festivities.

A royal Christmas is famously unique, from the unusual royal tradition of 'the family weigh in' to the fun exchange of joke presents. It was a tradition involving Christmas decorations however that resurfaced this week.

Most of us take down the decorations before the twelfth night (5th Jan) or Epiphany (6th Jan) as it's said to be bad luck not to.

However the Queen apparently keeps hers up for a while longer, and the reason behind it is heartbreaking.

The Queen keeps her decorations up until the 6th February, to mark the anniversary of the death of her beloved father, King George VI, who passed away at the Sandringham Estate on 6th February 1952.

She is said to reflect on this in private in Sandringham every year, before returning to her official residence, now Windsor Castle.

This was a particularly different Christmas for The Queen as it also marked her first without her late husband, Prince Philip, who passed away in April last year.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.