Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have released a new Christmas photo, showing the tight bond that the family share and delighting royal watchers with their exotic location. As it turns out, the Cambridge family made a secret trip to Jordan earlier this year.

When it comes to Christmas photos, the Cambridge’s rarely make a misstep. This year is no different.

The family of five is pictured in Jordan, where Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, spent part of her childhood while her father was working for British Airways.

When Prince William was visiting the country as part of a tour in 2018, he mentioned that he would like to bring his family back. It looks like he kept his promise.

The Cambridge’s look relaxed with Catherine having her long, luscious hair down in what looks like a bit of her natural curls and Prince William in shorts. The couple, who celebrated their 10-year-anniversary this year, have their hands placed lovingly on each other knees. Catherine looked resplendent in an olive green dress, which seems to suit the location perfectly.

The children were equally adorable. Prince George is in one of his favorite colors, camo. The young prince and future king definitely loves the military, like most of his male family members. Princess Charlotte was in a summer dress, giving a smirking style smile making her look every inch a descendent of the Queen. Their youngest child and tiebreaker, Prince Louis, had a sweet polo stripped shirt on and is still obviously a younger and cuter copy of his grandfather, Michael Middleton.

These pictures explain a rather interesting thing that happened just a couple of months ago.

The Cambridge family was previously pictured earlier this fall arriving at a special section of London’s Gatwick airport reserved for royalty and celebrities. The pictures made their way online, but quickly and inexplicably disappeared.

It was rather odd.

Pictures appearing of royals traveling have made the news before, including the Cambridge’s on their way to visit the Queen at Balmoral, and are rarely removed from the internet. An exception would undoubtably be made if two of the direct heirs to the throne were going to a country like Jordan, which has a much higher security risk.

No doubt, palace officials ensured that the pictures were removed so that no one could figure out where the family was going.

Thankfully, they were able to spend the entire trip in peace and without a security breach.

2021 has truly been the year of the Cambridge family. William and Catherine celebrated their 10-year anniversary, and the couple seem more in love than ever before. They are settled and clearly have their eyes on their children and the future of the monarchy.

It’s a lovely thing to see, especially after such a tumultuous and challenging year, between the death of Prince Philip, the Queen’s increasingly frail health and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s crazy antics, there have been no end of stressors.

But the Cambridge’s are clearly navigating the storm and showing themselves as a steady influence that the British royal family needs.