Where's George? Too noisy for church, says Duchess Kate

We learned another factoid about Prince George of Cambridge this Christmas: He makes a lot of noise.

No surprise there: He's just 17 months old.

His pregnant mum, Duchess Kate, dropped the tidbit on Christmas morning when she and husband Prince William attended the traditional royal family church service at Sandringham.

Where's George, asked some in the crowd of several thousand who watched the family, led by Queen Elizabeth II — and including most of her children and grandchildren — troop to the nearby estate church in front of dozens of photographers.

After the service, when Kate stopped to accept flowers and a gift of chocolates for George from a little girl, Maddison Neal, 8, she told the child that George was with his nanny.

"I'm sorry we didn't bring George, but you would have heard him in the church," she said, according to the Daily Mail, ITV and other British media reports.

Will also told well-wishers that their toddler was well but he'd been left in the nursery because of the cold weather.

"But they were looking forward to going back to see what destruction he'd caused," another onlooker, Kim Dawson, 43, told the Mail .

It seems some would not have minded if George had raised a ruckus in church, judging from Twitter:

Will and Kate held hands and looked loving as they walked to church.

She was dressed in brown, from her tweed calf-length coat by Moloh to her suede boots and Betty Boop-style hat, according to the blogs that track her fashion.

Although more than five months pregnant, she still doesn't show much, at least, not when wearing heavy overcoats.

The Cambridges are spending the Christmas holiday at their new country retreat, Anmer Hall, which is on the Sandringham estate. Kate's family, the Middletons, including sister Pippa and brother James, are staying with them and were spotted at the church service, too.