The Princess of Wales has made a rare public appearance with her family to celebrate Christmas with selfless individuals who have supported others.
Kate is making a gradual return to public events after completing her cancer treatment and joined William and their children at Westminster Abbey for her annual Together at Christmas carol service.
The royal couple walked into the historic Abbey where they married in 2011 with Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, nine, and Prince Louis, aged six.
The young royals had stopped at a “Kindness Tree” outside the Abbey’s great west door and hung messages on its branches in dedication to someone has supported them during their lives in keeping with the service’s theme of love and empathy.
The royal children were introduced to the Dean of Westminster, Dr David Hoyle when they first arrived with their father William.
Kate had travelled ahead of her family to meet and thank the celebrities taking part including singers Gregory Porter and Paloma Faith and actor Richard E Grant, who is giving a reading.
Kate thanked Porter, known as much for his popular songs as his jazz performances, for agreeing to take part.
She told the singer: “Thank you, I’m conscious it’s such a busy time for everybody.”
The princess wore a festive red coat featuring a large black bow on the collar and black buttons by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen.
She turned to Faith, in a red dress, and singer-songwriter JP Cooper, who wore a similar coloured coat, and smiled as she said: “It’s a celebration, everybody’s wearing red.”
Faith joked about her eight-year-old daughter who said, when told her mother was leaving home to sing for a princess: “Are they going to chop your head off?”
The singer and Kate laughed as the performer said: “I don’t think they do that anymore.”
Later Kate walked through the Abbey and stopped to speak to a number of the guests as they sat waiting for the carol service to begin.
The 1,600 guests have all supported others, whether friends or family, helped individuals through their work or volunteered.
The order of service for the event paid tribute to these community stalwarts and others: “This Carol Service is dedicated to those who have shown love, kindness and empathy to others in their communities.
“They have inspired, counselled, comforted, and highlighted how love unites and connects us all.”
Among the members of the royal family attending the carol service were the Duchess of Edinburgh and Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and their son Christopher Woolf Mapelli Mozzi.
William’s cousin Zara Tindall was also among the guests, as were Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and their daughter Lady Gabriella Windsor, making her first appearance at a royal event since a coroner concluded this week that her husband Thomas Kingston had taken his own life following an inquest into his death.
The highlights of the service included Porter performing Do You Hear What I Hear? and Faith singing the classic soul song This Christmas.
Actor Richard E Grant recited a passage from Charles Dickens’s classic festive story A Christmas Carol, while Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery read some of her personal reflections.
