Meghan Markle joined the entire royal family for pre-Christmas lunch

Meghan Markle may have gotten her start as an American actress, but she is on her way to becoming a member of the Royal Family. She is already living with Prince Harry in their Nottingham cottage, right next door to Prince William and Kate Middleton's home on the Kensington Palace grounds. Meghan has already spent some one-on-one time with Queen Elizabeth II and has begun celebrating the holiday season with her fiancé's extended family.

A Royal lunch

On Wednesday, Meghan and Harry joined many other royal family members for the Queen's annual pre-Christmas lunch.

Harry and Meghan arrived at the palace and the family affair was reportedly the first time Meghan Markle attended a lunch with so many of her future family members.

Multi-Day Christmas celebration

The multi-day Christmas celebration is an annual event that always begins with pre-Christmas lunch. Meghan and the royal family plan on spending the entire holiday season together. The family will travel a few hours north of London and exchange gifts at the Queen's Sandringham House Country Estate. The family does plan on attending church on Christmas morning at St. Mary Magdalene.

The Christmas feast will follow, and Meghan and Harry will most likely spend the night together with family members in Norfolk.

Meghan Markle is actually getting some special treatment and breaking tradition with her attendance. Back in 2010, Kate was only invited to the pre-Christmas lunch with the rest of the family but was not included in the Christmas day celebrations. She did not even get an invite to the Sandringham house.

Meghan Markle breaks tradition

Meghan is a different case altogether. Although she is not married to Prince Harry yet, the couple has already been living together in their cottage. She is a divorced American actress, who is also of mixed race. There is absolutely nothing traditional about Prince Harry's relationship with Meghan.

It's likely that the Queen is very aware of all of these things and simply assumes that Meghan is a special case. Clearly, Meghan's presence would make Harry much happier for the holidays, so why not let her come? Tradition is slightly outdated anyway, right?

So far, Meghan appears to be seamlessly blending into the royal family. She has a close relationship with the Queen, and always presents herself with elegance and grace. She will most definitely bring something special to the Christmas festivities.