Prince Charles is selling Christmas products even though it's the beginning of August.

[Rob Thompson]

Prince Charles is selling Christmas products even though it's the beginning of August

Source - GloustershireLive

By - Janet Hughes

Date - 06-08-2021

Prince Charles is making sure he's ahead of the pack by selling Christmas cards showing snowy scenes at his Cotswolds home at the height of summer.

Children may have just started the school holidays but the royal granddad is already selling festive advent calendars and jigsaws in his Highgrove shop.

And the Tetbury store is also selling packs of Christmas cards for £9.95 and advent candles for £4.50.

The forecasters may be predicting another heatwave at the end of August but Charles is already selling gifts with snowy scenes at the house he shares with Camilla Parker Bowles.

Christmas cards and candles are not yet available on the website but are on sale in the Tetbury shop that serves tourists who come from all over the world to see where Prince Charles lives in Gloucestershire.

The single Highgrove shop is last minute lifeline for royal souvenir hunters who turn up in the town and don't realise you have to book tickets for the garden tours well in advance and you can't tour the house.

With around 20 weeks until Santa arrives on Saturday December 25, there is only a very small display of Christmas goods at the back of the duck egg blue shop on Long Street.

But even though there are 140 days until Christmas Day 2021 on Saturday, shoppers can buy a 3D model of the house with 24 freestanding figures of snowmen, carol singers and children sledging.

It's unclear if it's new stock or left over from last Christmas when the nation was thrown into a last minute lockdown leaving many retailers with unsold stock and people left unable to buy last minute presents.

Highgrove has a 2020 post on Pinterest saying: "Wish them a happy Highgrove Christmas with our specially commissioned Christmas cards featuring the humorous artwork of Madeleine Floyd.

"Or help them count down the days to Christmas with our traditional Highgrove advent calendars and advent candles featuring exclusive illustrations by Alison Gardiner."
Early Christmas sales are known to divide opinion, getting many people hot under the collar and leading to calls for the festive festivities to be put on hold until after bonfire night on November 5.

But some people love the months long lead up to the big day and the Prince of Wales could be onto a winner because he sells a range of luxury goods that would make gifts for the most difficult of people.

For a start there is a Highgrove 2022 photographic calendar already on sale for for £9.95.

"Our 2022 wall calendar accompanies you through the seasons at Highgrove Gardens," says the website.

"We have picked a breathtaking garden highlight for each month that best reflects the season, taking you on a beautiful visual journey."
Presents range from framed lithographs of watercolours painted by the heir to the throne that sell for for £2,500 to organic soaps and tea towels for under a tenner.

The latest addition to the luxury food brand is a tin of hand iced, buzzy bee, lemon flavoured biscuits for around £25 and boxed gift sets of gin and glasses etched with the Prince of Wales feathers for £70.

For someone who deserves a bit of luxury there's presents such as a frosted leaf silver bracelet at £440, several styles of woollen throws for £165 and a leather overnight bag for £550.
If you like a bargain the Prince of Wales check flat cap is down from £49.95 to £24.95 but sadly the £29,95 ties in the same material were sold out.

But Prince Charles isn't the only jumping the gun because shops such as WH Smiths and The Works and charities such as Oxfam and the RNLI are Christmas cards on line already.

And he doesn't want to be left behind because the shop raises money for the Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund.

[Rob Thompson]

I must confess to jumping to conclusions as I was reading this. Thinking, good heavens above, he cant be that strapped for cash!

But the last line redeemed him, particularly as I was a recipient of his Trust as a youngster  

[Santa Craig Maxwell]

24 minutes ago, Rob Thompson said:

I must confess to jumping to conclusions as I was reading this. Thinking, good heavens above, he cant be that strapped for cash!

But the last line redeemed him, particularly as I was a recipient of his Trust as a youngster  

Royal Granddad looks good.  I really like the Santa in this picture