King Charles and Queen Camilla pose casually within the gardens of Buckingham Palace for his or her annual Christmas card – a stark distinction to final yr’s coronation snap

Buckingham Palace has released King Charles‘ third Christmas card as monarch, featuring a sweet photograph of the royal with his wife Queen Camilla.

The image was taken by Millie Pilkington in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, captured in April when the foliage behind the royal couple was blooming with pink and purple flowers.

In the photograph, Camilla, 77, is seen wearing a blue wool crepe dress by Fiona Clare, with her arm around her husband.

Charles, 76, is in a light grey suit and patterned blue tie, smiling with his hand in his pocket.

The card is a stark departure from the formal image their Majesties chose last year – an official Coronation photo taken by Hugo Burnand in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace.

That year, the photo showed the King wearing the Imperial State while Camilla wore Queen Mary‘s Crown. Both were dressed in the Robes of Estate.

An inscription inside last year’s missive read: ‘Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.’

Speaking about his experience as the coronation photographer, Hugo Burnand – who also snapped Prince William and Kate Middleton‘s wedding – described the atmosphere in the throne room as ‘cosy’ during the photoshoot.

He added that there was a ‘lovely buzz’ while he set up and took the coronation images.

Hugo, who has a Royal Warrant given by the King as a portrait photographer was also the snapper at Charles and Camilla’s 2005 wedding.

However, he was not behind the first Christmas Card Charles sent as monarch in 2022, which featured a closer up shot of him and his wife.

Taken by award-winning photographer Sam Hussein, it showed the royal couple at a Highland Gathering just days before the late Queen Elizabeth II died.

A smiling Charles and Camilla were pictured smiling while attending the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering on September 3, five days before the Queen died on September 8. 

The photo captured the nowKing from a side profile, dressed in a tweed suit with a red, green and beige tie.  

Meanwhile, Camilla was seen wearing a green suit and matching hat with a pheasant motif, and pearl earrings.

During the event, Charles officially opened a new structure celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee as he joined spectators at The Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park for the annual Highland Games event. 

It was noted that Queen Elizabeth II was not in attendance due to her declining health.

Charles cut a heather rope to mark the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Archway. 

Crowds from across the globe joined him and the then Duchess of Cornwall to watch competitors take part in events such as the caber toss, hammer throw and tug-of-war, as well as to celebrate some longstanding Scottish traditions, dance and music.

Camilla and the Princess Royal were presented with heather posies by 10-year-old Chloe Guy and 12-year-old Cassie Stewart, who are both members of the Braemar Royal Highland Society’s dancing class, before the Games got under way.

Camilla appeared to take a sprig of flowers and put it in her buttonhole, which could be seen in the Christmas card photograph.

There are conflicting reports on when the tradition of royals sending Christmas cards started.

Some say it was in 1914, when King George V and Queen Mary sent them during World War I, to share a message of goodwill with the troops and their families.

However, according to the Royal Trust Collection: ‘Following the introduction of the ‘penny post’, the first Christmas cards were sent in 1843. Members of the Royal Family often selected a recent family photograph for their personal Christmas card.’ 

Last year, a huge collection of royal Christmas cards was put up for sale, including festive images from almost every year between 1953 to 1989. 

The cards were kept by Commander Sir Philip John Row, who was Deputy Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth II between 1958 and 1968 and then appointed Extra Equerry to the Queen Mother in 1969.

They went under the hammer at auctioneers Woolley & Wallis, of Salisbury, Wiltshire in November.

The collection showed how the Royal Family had evolved over four decades, featuring three generations, from the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, their children, and Princes William and Harry.

In the earliest card, the now-King was just five-year-olds, whereas he was pictured as a grown-up with his two sons in a later one.

Among the cards, there are some from the 1950s showing Charles with Princess Anne as children, and Princes Andrew and Edward in the 1960s and early ’70s.

Meanwhile, the card for 1960 shows the family on the front lawn at Balmoral with baby Andrew, while baby Edward appears in a pram in 1964 with the family huddled around it.

The 1978 card features Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip by a fireplace, with the 1981 card showing the newlyweds Charles and Princess Diana.

Sir Philip John Row joined the Royal Navy in 1922 and in the Second World War he served on HMS Kent on the Arctic Convoys.

He was also on board Kent for Operation Mascot – one of the many attempts to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz.

His 20 medals include the Royal Victoria Order, Knight Commander’s Neck Badge and Star, the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and France’s Legion d’Honneur.

Speaking at the time of the sale in 2023, Ned Cowell, militaria specialist at Woolley & Wallis, said: ‘His collection of Royal Christmas cards from 1953 to 1989 provide a fascinating record of the first half of Queen Elizabeth’s long reign.

‘It is interesting to look at the cards and see how the photos chosen evolve over the near 40 year period.