Elizabeth II starts the royal Christmas celebrations

Queen Elizabeth II has a reputation for sometimes being just a little bit serious.  But she's stolen a march on her fellow monarchs this year by being the first to be snapped getting into the festive spirit.  Along with the Duchess of Cornwall, she paid a visit to the charity, Barnados, on December 10th 2013 and helped decorate the Christmas tree.

 

If you're helping the Queen of Great Britain decorate the tree then you wait until she's picked the best bauble and the best branch to put it on

 

As she's the Queen, someone else had done the annoying bits like getting the decs out of the loft, making sure the lights work and getting all the fiddly bits of tinsel to stay on the branches.  And the Queen wasn't sorting through the baubles that mark out many a Christmas tree - the ones that are old but get labeled vintage.  Oh no.  A very regal red velvet decoration with her monogram on it was ready and waiting for the Queen to place on the tree while the Duchess of Cornwall had a royal blue bauble carrying the name of Barnados to place on the tree.  They seemed to enjoy their festive outing and they've left the rest of Europe's royal courts playing Christmas catch up.

 

 

There was only one person who could put this bauble on the Barnados Christmas Tree - the Queen's special decoration that she used yesterday to start the festive celebrations at the charity