The royal treatment: How the Queen decorates for Christmas

 The Queen’s Christmas message might be sensible, graceful and just a little bit clipped – but her Christmas decorations are full-on and lavish.

Reigning for 65 years and counting, Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch and has thrown many a holiday celebration, but the Windsor Castle displays recently unveiled to the public prove that her holiday taste is anything but outdated.

The gold-on-gold, more is more, theme for Christmas 2017 in the State Dining Room of Windsor Castle. Photo: Getty

The oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, Windsor Castle plays host to thousands of visitors each year, particularly at Christmas.

The holiday display traditionally includes a large outdoor light show and impressive decorations, but this year it’s been turned up a notch.

Inside, the 2017 decoration scheme is regally glamorous and maximal. A colour palette of gold, gold and more gold, or burgundy and red, highlight the opulent architecture of the castle.

Working for a week, a team from the Royal Collection Trust took to the castle to transform it into a festive winter wonderland.

The themes of gold were chosen to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the restoration of the Castle following a devastating fire in November 1992.

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Taking pride of place at the end of the stately St George’s Hall is a six metre Nordmann Fir tree lavishly adorned with lights, tinsel and colourful decorations. The set up of the tree reportedly took over 13 hours and makes Britney Spears’ Christmas bonanza look like a sham.

In the State Apartments, the colour scheme is all “glittering gold”, which was inspired “by the intricate gilding work that was undertaken to restore the Castle’s interiors to their former glory” wrote the Royal Collection Trust.

The fully decked out State Dining Room is a sight to behold, with festive golden vine and ivy arches, golden gilt dinnerware and gold jardinieres piled high with gold mock fruit and baubles.

Outside, more fir trees with baubles dot the grounds, and opulent wreaths of green and gold foliage with red berries adorn the castle gates.

A spectacular projected light show and fairylights bring the castle to life at night. If you’re in the UK, the castle will be open to visitors until January 5, 2018.

You are, however, unlikely to catch a glimpse of The Queen herself. She spends the Christmas period at one of her other stately homes, Sandringham House.

– This story originally appeared on stuff.co.nz