William and Kate mingle with Edward and Sophie’s family as a group of nine

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were accused of accidentally violating the “rule of six” after meeting with Prince Edward and his family in Sandringham.

William and Kate, along with their children, Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two, are said to have “mingled” with the prince’s uncle, his wife Sophie, and their elderly Lady Louise Windsor. 17-year-old James Viscount Severn, 13, at a public attraction.

The two groups visited Luminate, a Christmas-themed walk through the woods at the Queen’s Norfolk residence, along with members of the audience on Sunday evening.

The two arrived separately, with royal sources stressing that there was no intention to meet as a group of nine people.

But as they made their way around the illuminated one-way route, the two families were seen and photographed mixing and talking several times, albeit holding on to social distance.

Queen Norfolk’s residence is covered by level two rules, which means that only six people – including children – can meet outdoors if they are not from the same household or with support bubbles.

The regulations clearly state: “You can see friends and family with whom you do not live (or do not have a support bubble) outdoors, in a group of up to six. This limit of six includes children of any age. “

They also say that the police can take action against those who meet in larger groups – a fixed penalty notification of GBP 200 for the first offense, doubling for each offense up to GBP 6,400.

An astonished member of the public, who caught the families on the phone, told the Mail that they had seen the families “mingling” several times. One of those photos clearly shows the party of nine, followed by bodyguards, walking together in a group.

William is in front, carrying Louis on his shoulders, with George next to him, Kate is with Charlotte and Sophie, who follow James behind her, with the Count of Wessex and his daughter Louise growing up in the back.

Another image shows William holding hands with George and Charlotte, walking alongside Sophie, James and Louise.

A visitor who saw the group said: “It clearly violates Covid’s rules, in my opinion, because there were nine out of two separate households. Obviously, everyone had a fun evening. You could say that the young kings had a great time.

But I couldn’t help but think it was a rule for them and another for us. It was really pretty blatant.

Last night, royal sources suggested that any contact was inadvertent.

They said: “The two families received separate slots to visit the route just before it was opened to the general public. They arrived and left in their own family groups.

“As anyone with young children will know, there were times in the 90-minute walk that it was difficult to keep the two groups of families separate, especially at roadblocks.”

William and Kate, both 38, have been with their children at Anmer Hall on Sandringham’s property for the past ten days.

They had hoped to spend the festive season with Kate’s family in Berkshire, but were forced to give up their plans because of the pandemic.

They traveled to Anmer before the Tier Three and Tier Four rules were introduced, preventing non-essential travel from London, where they live at Kensington Palace.

Edward and his family traveled to Norfolk from their home in Bagshot Park in Surrey.

Family tickets for the Luminate experience cost 52 GBP. The two groups received a start interval between 16:15 and 16:30.

The route is lit by musical displays with brightly colored trees and flickering fairies in cages. Several signs remind walkers of the need for social distancing.

A member of the attraction staff said he joked with George and Charlotte that there were tigers in the woods as they passed them.

In another stage, the families were seen in an area of ​​soft drinks, gathering around the fire pits where they fried marshmallows bought from a stall.

George, wearing a flat hat and green strands, was also seen running through a maze.

He was followed by Kate wearing jeans, ankle boots, a short jacket and a boron hat.

William, who was also wearing a flat hat and wellington boots with a pink scarf over his jacket, was photographed having fun throwing his head over the maze.

He was followed by Sophie and Louise gathering drinks and Edward.

Detectives following them ordered members of the public not to take pictures, saying the family members were “on a private visit.”

Interior Minister Priti Patel said the rule of six means that families should not stop talking to other families if they run into them on the street.

“The rule of six is ​​to make sure people are conscientious and do not endanger the health of others,” she added, when asked if a family of four, talking to another family of four, would break the rules.

But lawyers argued that the interpretation was “wrong” because the ban applies to meetings “operated by a business, a charitable, benevolent or philanthropic institution or a public body.”

There is also a lot of confusion about whether the rule of six includes young children, which it does in level two.