The Queen had a beautiful reason for keeping her Christmas decorations up until February

For most of us, the generally accepted rule is that you take your Christmas decorations down by 6 January. But for the late Queen Elizabeth II, it was slightly more complicated than that.

The Queen instead operated on a much later schedule, opting to have her various residences un-decked for the Christmas period on or after 6 February, as reported by OK!.

But the late monarch had a very good reason for keeping the festive spirit going until well into the new year: 6 February marked the anniversary of her beloved father, King George VI's, death. The monarch passed away in 1952, leaving the throne to his eldest daughter, and the decorations were her way of honouring his memory.

OK! notes that we don't know whether King Charles III has kept his mum's tradition going in his two Christmases as King.

Obviously, being such a historic family, the royals have many other Christmas traditions they're very attached to bringing back every year for their Sandringham celebrations.

For example, the Windsors open their Christmas presents on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas morning.

"On Christmas Eve when all the clan are together, the monarch's grandchildren and great-grandchildren put the finishing touches to the 20ft Christmas tree in the White Drawing Room," royal expert Robert Jobson explained back in 2021. "Presents will be opened that day at tea time as the royals still keep to the German practice of opening their gifts on Christmas Eve."

These gifts — as you may know — are typically gag gifts rather than expensive ones, given that the royals can pretty much afford to treat themselves to any more luxurious items they might covet.

Other traditions include enjoying sweet treats such as Cinnamon Star biscuits, and funnily enough, staying well away from the Monopoly set, because games apparently get "too vicious" among the competitive bunch.

Well, it certainly sounds like they all have a fun time with it!