The Windsors returned to Channel 4 tonight with an hour-long special showcasing the errant Royals enjoying the festivities at Sandringham.

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A new character for “Chrustmas” was Vicki Pepperdine’s Princess Anne – a fabulously creepy invention, modelled on the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers from the Daphne du Maurier classic Rebecca.

Wills (Hugh Skinner) was visited by the ghost of Christmas Past (Paul Whitehouse’s amiable George III) and Kate (Louise Ford) found herself stuck in the kitchen doing the cooking thanks to the plotting of a vengeful Camilla.

The gloriously thick Harry, meanwhile, had to choose between the amorous attentions of Lizzy Connolly’ s Ellie Goulding over Morgana Robinson's “Puppa" (Pippa).

And the good news is that the show is returning for a second series next year, for another six-part run with the likelihood of it being in the late spring 2017, according to C4 sources.

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The main cast are all expected to return, including Harry Enfield (Prince Charles), Haydn Gwynne (Camilla) Morgana Robinson (Pippa), Louise Ford (Kate), Hugh Skinner (Wills), Richard Goulding (Harry), Katy Wix, (Fergie), Ellie White, (Beatrice), Celeste Dring (Eugenie), Tim Wallers (Prince Andrew) and Matthew Cottle (Prince Edward).

Written by the co-creators of Star Stories, Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie, the first series of The Windsors was the highest rating comedy series launch on Channel 4 since 2012, with 2.2 million viewers.

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C4 head of comedy Phil Clarke said of the recommission: “We’re a nation who appears to enjoy poking fun at the institution of the monarchy almost as much as we enjoy staring at a hospital door waiting for a royal baby to be born and I am delighted to welcome The Windsors back to Channel 4 comedy for a second series.”

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