YOUNG ROYALS STEP FORWARD

The Wales children impress well-wishers at Sandringham as the family prepares for a busy year ahead

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The combination of cheekiness with an easy grace ensured that the young Princes and Princess at the heart of the royal family were the focus of attention during their traditional Christmas walk to church.

Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, ten, and Prince Louis, seven, reminded supporters gathered outside St Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham Estate of the family's capacity for joy at the end of a tumultuous year.

Set against a brilliant blue sky, the family procession, led by the King and Queen, strode purposefully on the quarter-mile journey to the 11am service. It was on the journey back that the Wales children showed their burgeoning independence, separating from their parents for the first time to offer hugs, shake hands and greet the public under William and Kate's watchful gaze.

Prince Louis showed his impish side as he spotted one spectator holding a red Lindt Lindor milk chocolate ball almost the size of his head. The Prince of Wales, wearing a Fair Isle patterned scarf, exclaimed “What is that?” as he received the ball and was told that it was meant for Louis.

The younger Prince did not hesitate. With a sudden grab and a twisting of his body worthy of a rugby scrumhalf, a grinning Louis wrestled the gift from his father and hugged it to his body.

“Yeah, Louis, I thought that might happen,” William said, ruffling his youngest son's hair.

A member of the public standing close by told HELLO!: “Louis snatched it right out of William's hands. He did a little twirl and hugged it. He didn't seem to want to move on. He didn't want to let that one go.”