The promise Kate Middleton made that gave Prince William his best Christmas

The couple has had a particularly challenging year.

Kate revealed in January that she was in remission from cancer, while King Charles, 77, continues to battle his own health battles.

Relations with Prince Harry, 41, and Meghan Markle, 44, remain tense after the couple stepped back from royal duties and moved to the United States nearly six years ago.

And the scandal surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein have also increased the pressure.

Windsor, 65, was stripped of his style, titles and accolades, while his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, 66, was forced to resign from multiple patronages.

A source told us that William and Kate played a key role in the decision to remove the former Yorks’ titles and push them to leave Royal Lodge, near the family’s new home at Forest Lodge, where they live with their children – George, 12, Charlotte, 10, and Louis, 7.