Prince William and Kate release family Christmas card image

The Prince and Princess of Wales have released their official Christmas card image - showing them hand-in-hand with their children in the countryside.

Prince William and Catherine are pictured walking with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis on a sunny day in Norfolk this year.

The children are in short sleeve tops and shorts while their parents are casually dressed in jeans and trainers.

They were snapped by Matt Porteous, who has documented the family in the past.

Other publicly-released family pictures have been taken by the Duchess of Cambridge, a keen photographer.

It has become an annual tradition for the royals to reveal which of their favourite photographs they have chosen for the cards they send out each Christmas.

The King and the Queen Consort released their card on Sunday.

King Charles and Camilla's photo was taken at the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering on 3 September, when he was still the Prince of Wales. The Queen passed away five days later, aged 96.

It is not known exactly when this year Prince William and Catherine's photo was taken.

Porteous took the official picture of Prince George - who is second in line to the throne - on his fifth birthday, as well as photos of the family at the Chelsea Flower Show.

His other commissions include behind the scenes moments from Prince Louis's christening, and the family's 2020 Christmas card image, which was taken at Anmer Hall, their home on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

Last year's Christmas photo showed Prince William and Catherine with their family on a visit to Jordan.

This year's comes at a time of renewed scrutiny of Prince William's relationship with his brother, Harry, amid the release of the controversial Netflix series Harry and Meghan this month.

A trailer released this week attracted controversy, with Harry shown saying: "They were happy to lie to protect my brother, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us."

Although not clear who the "they" referred to, many inferred that it was a reference to the Royal Family.

However, another version of the same trailer offers another explanation - with a different subtitle of the same commentary that says: "The British media are happy to lie to protect my brother."