Mike Tindall reveals why Prince Louis doesn't join other royals for lunch

The Royal Family may be like many other families behind closed doors, but there are also plenty of differences too. While most families dine together, even at large occasions and gatherings, the Royal Family do not tend to do this, with a tradition in place for children and younger ones to eat separately.

Although big family meals don't always happen often with the royals, especially as they all live busy lives, the family do tend to gather together at Christmas time. This includes a pre-Christmas lunch for the wider family, which tends to be hosted a week before December 25 at Buckingham Palace, and then Christmas Day itself, with a number of royals spending the day together at Sandringham in Norfolk.

While the Royal Family are often seen arriving at Buckingham Palace for the pre-Christmas lunch, including those who are distantly related to King Charles, not much is known about what goes on at the gathering.

However, the husband of Princess Anne's daughter Zara Tindall did once give royal fans an insight as he revealed that young royals, including seven-year-old Prince Louis, don't join older members of the family for the Christmas dinner.

Instead, there is believed to be a little table in another room nearby where the children all eat lunch together.

Speaking on his own rugby podcast 'The Good, The Bad & The Rugby', Mike said: "This is the family lunch, there were seven tables so there must have been about 70 of us there.

"The kiddies have their own little one in a different room."

This is believed to be the case for young royals until they can eat properly at the dinner table with the correct manners.

Former royal chef Darren McGrady, who worked for the Queen and Diana, once told Harper's Bazaar Royal: "The children always ate in the nursery until they were old enough to conduct themselves properly at the dining table."

It is not known what age royal children move from the children's table to the normal dining tables with their adult relatives.