When Kate Middleton turned down the Queen's Christmas invitation

There was an instance when Kate Middleton rejected the Queen's invitation to celebrate Christmas with the royal family, back when she dated Prince William.

Kate was the first girlfriend to be given the invitation but instead the then-24-year-old chose to spend it with her parents, who were renting a house in Perthshire to host the extended Middleton family.

According to Kate’s friend, it was a week-long affair.

"The whole family left Berkshire for a week and headed for Scotland where they hired a house in the countryside for all the extended aunts and uncles and the Middletons’ friends to be together," they said.

"Carole, Kate’s mother, wanted it to be a week-long celebration."

"Although Kate isn’t a wild party girl, her parents love entertaining and really know how to throw a bash."

"They rented a farmhouse in Perthshire and arranged several days of shooting and big family dinners followed by nights of drinking around a big log fire."

Kate in particular wanted to spend that Christmas with her family after she tragically lost both her grandmothers.

"Kate was incredibly saddened to lose both her grandmothers and this was the first time the family will have gathered since their deaths," they said.

"It’s a bit of a Middleton Christmas and there’s no way Kate would not be part of it."

The friend added that Kate had no plans on joining the royals for their traditional holiday until she was married to William.

"Kate said that she won’t be going to Sandringham until she is part of the family. She has made it quite clear that she will only be at a royal Christmas if she and William got married, and that was not yet on the cards," the friend said.