From Princess Beatrice’s regal performance to Prince William shooting daggers at his father while on stage… A look back at royal nativity plays over the years

Rehearsing lines, preparing costumes and learning the songs… nativity plays are a staple for many young children – including the royals. 

The future king, Prince William, was an inn keeper in his school play back in 1986, while his younger brother, Prince Harry, starred as a shepherd in 1988. Their cousin, Princess Beatrice, played a regal role as one of the three kings in 1992.

The late Queen Elizabeth also performed in Christmas pantomimes in her younger years, alongside her sister, Princess Margaret. 

William previously recalled how his son, Prince George, was a sheep in his nativity play at just four years old.

‘I went to my boy’s nativity play. It was funny. He was a sheep,’ the prince revealed during a visit to the BBC‘s Bridge House in Media City, Salford, in 2017.  

Princess Beatrice dressed as one of the Three Kings for her school nativity play in 1992

Prince William, holding a school friend’s hand, dressed in cotton shirt and and striped jacket ready for his role as inn keeper in 1986

Four-year-old Prince Harry walking with his classmates while dressed as a shepherd for his school play in 1988

For William’s own play, both of his parents – the then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana – were among the 40-person audience.

Diana gave her son ‘an extra kiss for good luck’ when she dropped him off at school that morning, the Daily Mail reported at the time. 

For the production, the young prince wore a white cotton shirt and a striped, embroidered jacket. 

‘Prince William didn’t look too enamoured with his impending role as an innkeeper as he made his way to the dress rehearsal for his kindergarten’s annual Christmas show,’ the Daily Mail reported. 

For the special occasion, Diana wore ‘a violet, knitted cardigan with Tyrolean black floral embroidery on the back and a matching slim skirt’.

However, school plays don’t always go to plan – and William recalled his experience in the ITV documentary, When Ant And Dec Met The Prince: 40 Years Of The Prince’s Trust. 

William gave his father a ‘death stare’ after Charles laughed when there was a mishap in one of his school productions, Hello! reported. 

Prince Charles and Princess Diana pictured leaving Harry’s school after watching him perform in 1987

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and Prince Andrew arriving at Beatrice’s school for her play in 1992

Harry, wearing a white embroidered tunic and a blue scarf on his head, ready for his nativity play in 1988

‘I jumped on stage, and there was meant to be a bit of a pyrotechnic explosion in front of me, and I jumped on stage and nothing happened. I started reading it, and of course to this point I was quite panicky, and then the pyrotechnic went off and I was like “err”,’ the prince said.

William recounted how Charles ‘couldn’t stop laughing’ and added: ‘The whole way through the production, several times I’d stop reading my lines, I’d cast an eye across, a big death stare, and then I’d try and get back to my lines. It was terrible.’

Harry got his own big break two years later when he was assigned the starring role of a shepherd, the Daily Mail revealed at the time.

The year before he had a non-speaking part in Mrs Jane Mynor’s kindergarten nativity production as a goblin. 

The four-year-old prince wore an embroidered tunic, accessorised with a striped cloth over his head. Charles and Diana both attended the 50-minute production in Notting Hill.

Four-year-old Beatrice holding on to her crown and wearing her costume thought to have been made by her mother, Sarah

The late Princess of Wales attending Harry’s school play in 1988

William holding a classmate’s hand and dressed in costume for his nativity play in 1986

For four-year-old Beatrice, her school play – The Little Angel – in 1992 came nine months after her parents, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, announced their separation in March.

Beatrice ‘played one of the three kings in the nativity play, in a costume which her mother is believed to have made herself,’ the Mail reported.

She performed at Upton House School in Windsor and wore a purple outfit decorated with gold detailing and a crown.

The late Queen Elizabeth also got involved with Christmas plays in her younger years.

Back in 1941, she performed as the Prince Florizel while her sister, Princess Margaret, played Cinderella in a pantomime they produced in aid of the Royal Household Wool Fund, for soldiers on the frontline.

The two young princesses gathered a cast of 50 friends as well as 24 village school children, wrote the Mail. 

Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret starring in the Christmas pantomime, Cinderella, in 1941 

A programme for the pantomime for the royal production at Windsor Castle

‘Two soldiers, on the stage in civilian life, are to give speciality acts. The orchestra will be drawn from the Army,’ the Mail reported.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth had front row seats for the performance.

When Margaret sang, she reportedly ‘called on the audience to sing the choruses’ and even got her parents involved with the singing. 

It was one of several plays the princesses were involved in to help raise money to support soldiers at the time.