Jaw-dropping royal dining rooms: The Queen & Prince Philip, Queen Letizia, Crown Princess Mette-Marit & more

This year, some of the world's most lavish royal dining rooms will lay empty with Christmas celebrations cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In years gone by, these rooms would host grand festive feasts to celebrate the most wonderful time of year.

These incredible dining rooms are designed to host everything from state banquets to royal weddings. From the Buckingham Palace State Dining Room that was host to Prince William and Kate's wedding reception to the informal dining area at the Norwegian royal residence, look through the gallery to see some of the most beautiful royal dining rooms…

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Buckingham Palace

The State Dining Room [above] was unfurnished when Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace in 1837, but she put her own stamp on the space by arranging paintings on the long wall and adding her cipher above the doors. The room was used to host Prince William and Kate's wedding reception in 2011, while the summer exhibition at the palace in 2019 showed how the dining room looked when it was set up for a Victorian dinner party.

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Sandringham House

The dining room at the Queen's country estate, Sandringham House, still features a lot of Queen Mary's influence. The walls feature pale green wooden panelling and striking Spanish tapestries, with an open fireplace and mahogany dining table that looks like the perfect setting for a dinner party.

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Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle's State Dining Room was one of the most badly damaged rooms in the fire that engulfed the residence in 1992. However, much of the historic furniture survived the blaze, so the room was decorated to restore its original appearance, with a rich red and gold colour palette, and a long dining table at the centre of the room.

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Princess Marie-Chantal's New York townhouse

Artwork showing Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal's children as youngsters takes pride of place on the shelves above the breakfast booth. It's a space where Marie-Chantal loves to continue a family tradition: "My father was carving out his career but he still had breakfast with us all," she told HELLO! magazine.

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Photo: Kate Martin

The formal dining room, meanwhile, is dominated by a tiger painting and lacquered table, and features a chandelier that is one of few reminders from when Marie-Chantal's parents used to live there.

Photo: Kate Martin

Crown Princess Mette-Marit's Skaugum estate

Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway shared a rare look at the informal dining room in their family home, Skaugum, during the coronavirus pandemic. The space has a light wooden dining table flanked by two grey sofas, and a rattan pendant light hanging overhead.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima's Noordeinde Palace

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of Belgium's dining room at one of their royal residences, Noordeinde Palace, has a lavish cream and gold colour palette with chandeliers hanging from the ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows flooding the space with natural light.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia's Royal Palace of Madrid

The dining room at the Royal Palace of Madrid is incredibly lavish, with tapestries hanging on the walls, red and gold curtains hanging at the windows and huge chandeliers hung from the ceilings. For the wedding of King Felipe and Queen Letizia, it had one long dining table down the centre of the room, lined with chairs for their guests at the reception.