Sharpe first classified it into the now-defunct genus Carpophaga. In 1933, English zoologist Frederick Nutter Chasen considered the Christmas imperial pigeon to be a subspecies of pink-headed imperial pigeon as D. rosacea whartoni.
Sharpe initially assigned it to the now-extinct Carpophaga genus. Two years later, in 1933, English zoologist Frederick Nutter Chasen classified the Christmas imperial pigeon as a subspecies of the pink-headed imperial pigeon, denoted as D. rosacea whartoni.