According to legend, Martin Luther, walking in the forest on Christmas Eve, noticed the stars shining through the branches of a fir tree. He cut down a young tree, brought it home, placed candles there and told his son that he was reminding him of Jesus leaving the stars to go to the land of men. Since then, it is said, the medieval fir tree around which the villagers danced left the public squares to gain the privacy of German homes, and then of other Protestant countries. He arrived in Great Britain in the mid-19th century. He became popular there thanks to Prince Albert, the Saxon husband of Queen Victoria, the popular press of the time already following the actions of the royal family.

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La reine Victoria, le Prince Albert et leurs enfants admirent le sapin de Noël royal, décembre 1848. Wikimedia