Princess Beatrice Hurries Mom Fergie Along in a Relatable Moment at Royal Christmas

Sarah Ferguson joined the royal family for their annual walk to Christmas church for the first time since the early 1990s

Princess Beatrice kept mom Sarah Ferguson on schedule during the royal family's annual Christmas outing.

Keeping with tradition, King Charles, Queen Camilla and other members of the British royal family stepped out for church on Christmas Day. Many of the regulars at the event were there, including Kate Middleton and Prince William with their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. But in a surprise, Fergie (as the Duchess of York is affectionately known) joined her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, and their daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, for the church outing.

Although Fergie, 64, would join the royals in the 1980s for Christmas, she has not been seen at the royal family's Christmas walk to church since the early 1990s, as she and Prince Andrew separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996. However, the former couple have remained friendly, even continuing to live together at Royal Lodge in Windsor.

Fergie was spotted greeting well-wishers gathered outside following the mass, collecting flowers and wishing everyone a happy Christmas. In a video shared on X, she is heard telling people, "Gotta go, gotta go!" as she lags behind the rest of the attendees. However, she then makes her way across the path to the other side to greet more people.

Princess Beatrice, 35, then comes into view, seemingly telling her mother that they need to head out, drawing laughs from the crowd. Fergie then joins Beatrice and Beatrice's husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, to leave.

Related: See the Best Photos of the Royal Family's 2023 Christmas Outing

Fergie's outing at Christmas was a surprise to royal watchers. In addition to not joining the event in decades, it's not common for divorced spouses to attend the close family event, and even engaged partners were not included until recently.

After Meghan Markle and Prince Harry got engaged in 2017, she joined the royal family at Christmas for the first time (but in 2010, Prince William wasn't allowed to bring Princess Kate despite their own engagement).

Despite her divorce from Prince Andrew, she remained close to members of the royal family, including her former mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth.

"She was so brilliant at putting you at ease. She had the most incredible faith of any single person I've ever met," the Duchess of York told PEOPLE earlier this year about Queen Elizabeth. "She just knew what to do. She knew how to make people feel good. She never took it onboard as about her. It's about the monarchy, about making someone feel good. She was my total idol."

Following the history-making monarch's death in 2022, Fergie and Andrew took in her two surviving corgis, Sandy and Muick.

"They are national icons, so every time they run chasing a squirrel, I panic," she shared. "But they're total joys, and I always think that when they bark at nothing, and there's no squirrels in sight, I believe it's because the Queen is passing by."

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Prince Andrew, 63, is no longer a working member of the royal family, but he still attends family events such as Christmas and Easter. He stepped back from his royal role in 2019 and was stripped of his military titles and patronages by his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in 2022 due to his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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