What It Was Really Like Inside Kate Middleton's ‘Monumental' Carol Service, According to a Guest She Invited (Exclusive)
The Princess of Wales invited a delegation from one of her newest patronages, kids’ hospice Tŷ Hafan
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Princess Kate and her family, from left, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince William and Prince George at the carol service at Westminster Abbey on Dec. 5, 2025.Credit :
Chris Jackson/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Kate Middleton invited guests from around the U.K. to her “Together at Christmas” carol service
- The Princess of Wales included some people from one of her newest causes, Ty Hafan in South Wales
- It was the fifth year that the Princess of Wales held the carol service
Kate Middleton’s fifth carol service was a “really special” moment for uniting everyone from those the royals have worked with this year, to rewarding charitable community work.
A guest among the 1,600-strong congregation tells PEOPLE that seeing Princess Kate, 43, and her husband, Prince William, and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, walk in and take their seats amid the grandeur of Westminster Abbey on Dec. 5, was “monumental.”
Emily Taylor, who had been invited along with her husband, James, to help represent kids’ hospice Tŷ Hafan in South Wales, watched from a few pews back as the Prince and Princess of Wales, both 43, arrived and took their seats.
“It was one of those moments when you’re trying to take everything in. To actually see the Prince and the Princess and their children walking in together in these grand surroundings. It felt so monumental. I was just trying to take it all in,” Emily tells PEOPLE.
“You see them, and they are a parent and their children. You just realize they are just humans, a mom and a dad with their children,” she adds.
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Emily, whose daughter Violet had a rare genetic disorder called TBCK Syndrome and died at 11 months old in August 2023, joined a small group from Tŷ Hafan children’s hospice in Wales, including fellow parents Candice Jones and Anton Griffiths. The two couples had met Princess Kate in January when she visited the hospice and was announced as the new royal patron.
“I got the impression [that] they cared about the community and the people who were there. They have got two boys and a little girl. Me and Candice both said it was bittersweet for us. We have two boys, and we lost our little girl,” Emily adds. “There is that connection with them. To even have the invite and then to be in the presence of them as a family was really special.”
The poignancy continued throughout the performances and special renditions and readings, she says – including Love Actually actor Chiwetel Ejiofor’s rendition of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” or T'was The Night Before Christmas. “I was thinking to myself, how has my life ended up here? The reason I was there was because of my daughter and how sad that is that happened but how grateful I was to be there,” Emily says. “So there were lots of different emotions.”
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Also at the event was Eugene Levy, who had William as a guest on an October episode of his Apple TV series The Reluctant Traveler, and Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham. Kate, William and their staff had invited them, and many others whom they met and worked with over the last 12 months, to recognize the humanitarian and selfless work carried out in the communities around the U.K. “They cared about the community and the people who were there,” Emily says.
“It was lovely to be able to sit there and see all the different people, all the charities and organizations, and you could make all the connections why that person has been invited,” she adds. “All those people who have brought kindness — all these people from all the different backgrounds and reasons for being there. It was just really special to have everyone come together.”
Since Princess Kate became a patron of the hospice on the South Wales coast near Cardiff, she has had an awareness-raising impact, Emily says. “She shines such a spotlight on Tŷ Hafan. Back before I needed them, I was a family in South Wales. I had children. But I didn’t understand. To me, children didn’t die, so you didn’t need a children’s hospice.”
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“Children with life limiting conditions just wasn’t my world. Her being the patron has given that recognition that Tŷ Hafan needed.”
She adds, “People still ask me about meeting her back in January and talk about that day. It all feels so fresh. To have that with Candice and Anton as well, who we have been with from the start since our girls were poorly. I’m just really grateful that Tŷ Hafan has got that, and we were able to tell her about Tŷ Hafan, as I can’t ever repay what they did for Violet and for us, so it was nice to have the chance in some small way tell her exactly what they have done.”