We published Prince Andrew’s Christmas card last year – that shows how old we are — so here’s the very different 2006 version :

Why, you may ask, is he wearing that exceptionally silly hat? No need to ask why his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, look so embarrassed.

Maybe he’s trying to attract the attention of Courtney Love.

After a Christmas away from their girlfriends, Prince William and Prince Harry will spend New Year with Kate Middleton and Chelsy Davy in various parts of the world.

William is said to have accepted an invitation by Kate’s family to spend Hogmanay at their farmhouse in Perthshire, Scotland, seeing in the New Year in traditional Scottish style, no doubt.

Soon afterwards, Wills and Kate will celebrate her 25th birthday on January 9 by flying off to the Swiss Alps for a spot of skiing.

Meanwhile, Prince Harry will see the New Year in with Chelsy for the third year in a row. The couple will spend ten days with her parents on the Indian Ocean island of Bazaruto, off the coast of Mozambique.

Prince Harry will be on duty in his barracks over Christmas with his regiment the Blues and Royals, stationed at Windsor, Clarence House says.

Prince William, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall will celebrate with the Queen at Sandringham.

On Christmas Day, the Queen and others in her family will attend a morning service at Sandringham Church, an annual event that draws large crowds of sightseers.

Camilla will leave after lunch to spend the rest of the day with her own family, Laura Lopes and son Tom Parker-Bowles.

The Prince of Wales, through the Duchy of Cornwall, has scrapped plans to build a large mansion at Harewood End in Herefordshire, which was due to be completed in 2010.

In its place a substantial, but more modest, 6-bedroomed, eco-friendly property is to be constructed — subject to planning permission.

The house has been widely assumed to be Prince Charles’s future wedding present to Prince William. The scrapping of the mansion for a smaller, quicker-to-build property will increase speculation that wedding plans between William and Kate Middleton are well advanced.

Architect Craig Hamilton said : “The brief from the Duchy of Cornwall was to design a smaller house but still with sufficient architectural presence that is demanded by the adjoining buildings and the landscape.”

It has been known for a while that Prince Charles had commissioned a country house at Harewood End, bought by the Duchy of Cornwall six years ago. For more than a year, a team of architects, builders and restorers has been working on the 900-acre estate.

According to local people in this small corner of Herefordshire, England, the house is to be Prince William’s home after he marries. “This estate is for William and his wife,” said one. “We all know it and it will be perfect for them.”