How Kate Middleton could take 'center stage' at the Royal Family Easter celebrations

Easter is an important time for the Royal Family, and Kate Middleton is expected to step up this year as the family marks their first celebration without the late Queen Elizabeth.

• As a woman of faith, Easter was one of the late Queen Elizabeth's favorite holidays.
• Now, as the royal family prepares to celebrate it without her for the first time, a royal expert has revealed how Princess Kate will take center stage this year.
• In other royal news, this is the hobby Queen Camilla has given up due to her age.

With King Charles's Coronation just weeks away, the Royal Family are gearing up for another major milestone - their first Easter without Queen Elizabeth II.

And royal expert Ingrid Seward has revealed what the celebrations will entail, how the family will be in a "reflective" mood and how the Princess of Wales will "step up."

"As Easter is early this year it is also the second anniversary of Prince Philip’s death on Easter Sunday and the Queen Mum died on Good Friday of Easter 2002 - 21 years ago. I think the mood will be happy as they were all very old but reflective," she told The Sun.

She added, "There will also be a mention during the Easter service at St. George’s Chapel for both the Queen and Philip."

Explaining the Wales' roles in the Easter celebrations, Ingrid added, "Obviously Prince William and Kate and their three children will be there...they were at Windsor last year."

Adding how Kate may take "center stage" when it comes to organizing the family activities, Ingrid said, "Kate is a great organizer and will almost certainly organize an Easter egg hunt – they can also go to the royal mews and see the horses there and there is an indoor pool for swimming and ponies for them to ride."

And as for whether King Charles will stick with his late mother's traditions, he will for some, but Ingrid says he might change other traditions.

"Charles is a traditionalist so I am sure he will do things as they have always been done since he was a child," the royal biographer said. "This means over the four days of Easter all meals are served in the Queen's private dining room."

However, His Majesty will not stay at Windsor for the duration of the Easter period like Queen Elizabeth did. Instead, Ingrid explains that he will return to London and "possibly" go to Sandringham.

One royal tradition the King is likely to relax is that the youngest children aren't allowed to join the adults at meal times.

Ingrid said, "They will all have dinner together but not the young children they will eat in the nursery dining room. The Queen always said until they could hold a knife and fork properly they could not eat at the table, but Charles might have relaxed that rule a bit."

She added that "Dinner is only for grown-ups" and revealed just what the royals eat for their Easter dinner. "Traditional Easter fare like roast lamb – everything will be from the royal estates, so it could include venison, pheasant chicken, spring vegetables, new potatoes, and carrots," Ingrid said. 

"Salmon caught in the River Dee and roast ham could be included. It will all be English food and include favorites like rhubarb crumble with cream from the royal dairy."