Queen Charlotte and the British Royal Family’s First Christmas Tree

While Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria’s consort, deserves the credit for being the royal who popularized the Christmas tree in Great Britain, it was Queen Charlotte, King George III’s wife, who earns the recognition for introducing this holiday staple to the Britons.

In 1800, Queen Charlotte installed the first indoor tree at the Queen’s Lodge in Windsor Castle. She was hosting a party and she wanted the children of the leading families in Windsor to experience the Christmas of her country of birth, so she had the tree spruced up. Her biographer, Dr. John Watkins wrote:

“In the middle of the room stood an immense tub with a yew tree placed in it, from the branches of which hung bunches of sweetmeats, almonds, and raisins in papers, fruits and toys, most tastefully arranged, and the whole illuminated by small wax candles. After the company had walked around and admired the tree, each child obtained a portion of the sweets which it bore together with a toy and then all returned home, quite delighted.”

A young Duchess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz left her home in Germany in 1761 to marry the new British sovereign. With this trip, she brought with her the legend of Martin Luther, who, it is said, first added lighted candles to a tree. One winter evening,  the protestant reformer was composing a sermon while heading home. He looked up in the sky and was awed by the brilliance of stars twinkling amidst evergreens. To scene stuck in his mind and to recapture it, he erected a tree in the main room of his Eisleben home and wired its branches with lighted candles. Since then, Germans had imitated Luther, bringing trees in their homes and decorating them with paper roses, dangling apples and confectionery.

In Mecklenburg-Strelitz, parlours were installed with a single yew branch but Charlotte innovated the idea  in her adopted country and brought in a complete tree instead. She invited her ladies-in-waiting to help her dress the festive bough with wax tapers at Kew Gardens and Windsor Castle before gathering around them to sing and distribute gifts and sweets. For her 1800 affair, the tree was lavishly decorated and served as a centrepiece for the royal Christmas party that celebrated the end of the first year of the 19th century. It was a fairyland for the children who had never seen a Christmas  tree! Britain's aristocrats were quickly to adopt this German tradition and by the time she died in 1818, the tree was already a holiday fixture in many aristocratic houses in Britain.   Queen Adelaide, King William IV’s German wife, continued this tradition and always had one for the holidays. A young Princess Victoria recorded her delight of having a Christmas tree at Kensington Palace in 1832.

Prince Albert later introduced the Christmas tree to the populace. In 1840, he imported spruce firs from Coburg and it was this Christmas tree that remained popular to this day. Before that, any hard-wearing tree was good enough to up-rooted and dragged inside.

A century later, at the height of World War II, the Kingdom of Norway began sending Britain a spruce from its forests every year as an expression of gratitude for its support in the fight against Nazi Germany. This tradition remains today and a tree stands in London's Trafalgar Square every December as it has every year since 1947.

A superstition has also arisen that the Christmas tree and other decorations must be taken down and kept away before the Twelfth Night (January 5) or the household will have to endure the risk of suffering from a series of misfortunes.