Sky Views: Have the Windsors already won 2018?

Rhiannon Mills, Royal Correspondent

Harry and Meghan loitering under the mistletoe, William and Kate toasting the news of their third child with some non-alcoholic fizz, and Charles and Camilla already planning his 70th birthday bash.

There's lots for the Windsors to celebrate this Christmas. So much so that anti-monarchy group Republic claim "the Royals already think they've won 2018".

But I suspect the Queen and Prince Philip are also raising a glass to a successful 2017.

It has been a year when we've seen the Royal household in transition, with significant breaks with tradition carried out with minimum fuss.

Take those pictures of Prince Philip standing in the rain in his bowler hat bowing out after 70 years of public duties, or Prince Charles placing the Queen's wreath on Remembrance Sunday, as his mother watched from the balcony.

And finally the news that Meghan Markle will be joining the fold. She'll be a very modern type of Royal.

It's been 12 months of change, but 2017 has also reinforced the idea that for many the Royal Family are still a symbol of stability.

The Queen's visit to Manchester following the bomb attack on the Ariana Grande concert was astonishing.

Talking to some of the young victims she described the attack as wicked. We rarely hear the monarch speak in that way.

With Prince William she also visited those caught up in the Grenfell Tower fire, telling survivors she'd watched the pictures on television, just like the rest of us.

When politicians were criticised for being too slow, getting the tone wrong, the Royal Family were widely regarded as being pitch perfect.

The Queen even used her birthday message to sum it up: "Put to the test, the United Kingdom has been resolute in the face of adversity. United in our sadness, we are equally determined, without fear or favour, to support all those rebuilding lives so horribly affected by injury and loss."

It is a sentiment she repeats in her Christmas message. We are your Royal Family and we care.

Don't get me wrong, like most of us they've had their difficult patches. The 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's death brought praise for Diana and her sons, but damaging headlines for Prince Charles and Camilla.

A princess party for the Beckhams at Buckingham Palace backfired for Prince Andrew.

There were also the allegations of financial wrongdoing in the Paradise Papers, and who can forget the videos of Prince William dancing on a ski holiday in Switzerland.

But 2018 is going to be one of those years where the bunting, union flags and commemorative tea towels will be out in abundance, whether you like it or not.

Republic is now on a war footing. On their website they say: "It's not a done deal. The Royals think they've already won 2018, let's prove them wrong."

I admire their determination and agree that it's our role to question the status quo.

But with the intriguing combination of a popular prince marrying an American actress, another baby on the way, and a much-respected monarch who is still going strong, I'd say they have their work cut out as we head into the new year.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Paste BN editors and correspondents, published every morning.

Previously: Ian King - The most cherished Christmas anthem of them all