Prince William and Kate share unseen family photo on this year's Christmas card

After the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Christmas card was leaked online earlier this week, royal fans got to see a never-before-seen picture of the young royal family.

• Prince William and Kate's family Christmas card was leaked online earlier this week before being shared by various fan Instagram accounts and by royal author, Elizabeth Holmes.
• The family are shown sitting outside, wrapped up in winter clothes in front of a pile of logs with beaming smiles.
• In other royal news (opens in new tab), the Queen has been pictured with other members of the royal family (opens in new tab) for the first time since March.

Every year, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge send out a Christmas card to lucky recipiants on their list and almost every year, the photo is leaked before the family then sometimes release a high-resolution image.

This year, the photo sent out on the family's official Christmas card for 2020 shows Prince William smiling away next to Kate, who has Princess Charlotte sat on her lap. Prince George is sat next to his Dad while the youngest, Prince Louis, steals the show in the middle of the picture with a great beaming smile.

It's an adorable photo with the whole family dressed up warmly in winter clothes, sat on a hay bale in front of a barrel of logs.

The photo has been shared on a variety of fan accounts for the royal family since being leaked, with @windsor.royal.family being one of the first. Underneath, fans of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were quick to offer their complements on the delightful photo.

As one wrote, 'Man I wish this was the one they sent out to everyone!! Oh to be in their Christmas card list!'

And another said, 'Just beautiful 😍' . 

Royal author Elizabeth Holmes, who wrote HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style shared the photo on her own Instagram account and captioned underneath it, 'A Cam photo extravaganza today! Their Christmas card pic has been shared on social media.'

'Hoping we get an official release of the high res (we didn't last year tho).' 

It's thought that this year, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Christmas card list will include frontline staff who have been actively working throughout the pandemic. As reported by Hello! (opens in new tab) magazine, the card was addressed "To all the amazing NHS staff," with Christmas wishes signed by both Prince William and Kate.

It continued, "Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year."

Prince William is said to have added a personal note, writing, "We can never thank you again for all the dedication and sacrifice you have had to make this year. We will be forever grateful."

It's already been a big week for the family, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have just come home from their recent Royal Train Tour of Britain, where Kate penned a special message (opens in new tab) on the TFL whiteboard before she left.

They also joined a special performance of Pantoland at the London Palladium this week, hosted by The National Lottery for key workers and their families.