Wherever you stand on the concept of monarchy, you've got to admit, it can't have been an easy year for Princess Beatrice, whose father Prince Andrew has spent much of the last year embroiled in the Epstein scandal.
Last month, in an attempt to make things better, Prince Andrew gave an interview with Emily Maitlis to address allegations that he had sex with the then 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre (nee Roberts).
During the interview, which was widely heralded as a car crash, he even used Princess Beatrice as part of an alibi, telling Maitlis, 'I was with the children and I'd taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at, I suppose, sort of 4pm or 5pm in the afternoon.'
Obviously the royals don't broadcast their feelings, so it's unclear how his eldest daughter felt about being namechecked during one of the biggest television events of UK history, but it's safe to assume that Princess Beatrice probably hasn't had an easy time of it. Her father was conspicuously absent from her engagement party earlier this month.
So yes. Not a bumper year for Bea. Which might be why her grandmother seems to have suspended what was previously a house rule - that unmarried couples cannot spend the night under her roof. The Queen is said to have extended an invitation for the traditional Royal Christmas Day gathering at Norfolk residence Sandringham to Beatrice's fiancé Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi - the property developer, she's set to marry in 2020.
It's not the first time this year that the Queen has had to handle potentially thorny issues of traditionalism in the wake of modern relationships. In the summer for example, Carrie Symonds went to Balmoral with boyfriend Boris Johnson - the first time a Prime Minister has bought a partner who is not officially his wife on such a trip.
Their visit raised the question of whether or not Boris and Carrie would be the first unmarried couple to share a bedroom in a royal household. We rang Buckingham Palace press office to ask, and as you might have predicted, they didn't give us a comment (but they were very nice about it.)
The unmarried couples rule applies to family, too. When Harry and Meghan went to Balmoral as an engaged couple, they didn't sleep there, instead going back to Anmer Hall, the Cambridge's country house. So this does represent something of a 360 change from the royal household - either in deference to the fact that it's 2019 and not everyone gets married. Or just an act of kindness from a grandmother to a granddaughter during a really rough year.
READ MORE: Carrie Symonds is going to Balmoral - but will she and Boris share a bedroom?