GIFT GAFFE
Princess Diana ‘mortified’ at Royal Family’s favourite Christmas tradition – and they still do it today
Scroll down for more on the Royal Family's extravagant Christmas Eve traditions
PRINCESS Diana ‘hated’ spending Christmas at Sandringham, a royal biographer has claimed.
According to Andrew Morton, the late Princess of Wales wasn't fond of spending the festive period with her royal relatives.
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Not only this, but according to Andrew, Diana was ‘mortified’ at the Royal Family’s favourite festive tradition - which they still do today.
Andrew Morton, who wrote the bestseller Diana: Her True Story, claimed that Diana’s foray into the unusual world of royal festive traditions began during her first Christmas at Sandringham in 1981.
It was just five months after she famously tied the knot with her husband then-Prince Charles and by the time Christmas Day itself arrived, the Princess was pregnant with her first child Prince William.
Despite suffering from severe morning sickness, Diana still took the time to “to buy her new family members thoughtful and expensive gifts,” reported.
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However, despite her careful planning to ensure heartfelt and personal gifts were selected, Diana soon found herself utterly “mortified” after discovering that this was not normal procedure for a royal Christmas.
Instead, contrary to what we might expect, it turns out that the Royal Family, who traditionally give their presents on Christmas Eve, prefer to give each other tongue-in-cheek ‘gag’ presents instead.
It’s a tradition that still stands today - typically, there are no diamonds under the royals’ Christmas trees.
Instead, the family are actually known to give each other joke gifts.
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Kate once, when he was single, gave Harry a Grow Your Own girlfriend kit, while Princess Anne once gifted her older brother Charles a leather toilet seat.
But Diana was unbeknown to this and was left blushing by the unusual tradition when she gifted her sister-in-law Princess Anne, 74, a beautiful cashmere sweater.
What Princess Diana was really thinking on her wedding day to Prince Charles, revealed by a body language expert Judi James
But in return, Diana was rewarded with a toilet roll holder.
Princess Diana told Andrew: “It was highly fraught. I know I gave, but I can’t remember being a receiver.
No boisterous behaviour, lots of tension, silly behaviour, silly jokes that outsiders would find odd, but insiders understood
Princess Diana
“Isn’t that awful? I do all the presents, and Charles signs the cards.
“[It was] terrifying and so disappointing.
“No boisterous behaviour, lots of tension, silly behaviour, silly jokes that outsiders would find odd, but insiders understood.”
Inside the Royal Family’s extravagant Christmas Eve celebrations
SARAH Hewson, royal editor at Talk TV, said the Royal Family typically gather on Christmas Eve to kickstart the celebrations.
She added: “The little royals - George, Charlotte and Louis and Camilla's grandchildren - will help finish decorating the tree.
"Then, the royal family and all their guests will place their gifts on a trestle table in the red drawing room and they will open them at tea time, a German tradition introduced by Prince Albert.
"And contrary to what we might expect when you think about a royal Christmas, there are no diamonds under the tree.
"They actually give joke gifts - Kate once, when he was single, gave Harry a Grow Your Own girlfriend kit, and apparently Meghan's present to the Queen on her first Christmas at Sandringham with a singing hamster.
According to royal expert Jennie Bond: “The name of the game is to buy cheap, witty presents.
“The gifts are to make people laugh, not to be expensive.
"These gifts are opened on Christmas Eve, a German tradition the family have adhered to for many decades.”
Everything you need to know about Princess Diana's final years
After years of separation, Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorced in 1996.
In 1997, Princess Diana spent her summer in the south of France and Italy. During August, she visited Sarajevo, Bosnia, to highlight the fight against landmines.
By the end of the month, the Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed travelled to Paris together.
It was revealed that Princess Diana stayed longer than planned in Paris due to a row over her land mine campaign.
Travelling in a black Mercedes Benz, Princess Diana was involved in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel on August 31, 1997.
The Princess of Wales died at the age of 36.
Her funeral was held on September 6, 1997. As her coffin made the journey from Kensington Palace to Westminister Abbey, Prince William and Prince Harry walked behind their late mother.
Princess Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd, and sisters, Jane Fellowes and Sarah McCorquodale, also attended the funeral.
The Princess of Wales was buried at her childhood home - Althorp House
If it wasn't for her tragic death, Princess Diana would have been 62 today.
Not only was Diana not super keen on this, but her long-time hairdresser Richard Dalton, also expressed Diana’s dislike of Christmas with the royals.
Richard Dalton told Kitty Kelly for her book The Royals: “The princess just hated going to Sandringham for Christmas.”
As reported by , Richard claimed: “She told me it was freezing cold and dinner had to be over by 3 o’clock.
“‘It’s 3 and time to watch me on TV,’ she’d say, imitating you-know-who.
Where is Princess Diana's final resting place?
THE People’s Princess tragically died in a car crash on August 31, 1997, and her peaceful final resting place is at her childhood home.
Her grave is nestled on an island in the beautiful Oval Lake at Althorp House, Northampton.
Understandably, the grave holds great significance for her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
Thousands of fans flock to the location each year to pay their respects to the late royal, and Meghan Markle has also visited.
Harry revealed in his memoir Spare that he took his wife to his mother’s final resting place in 2022, where they each had a private moment.
He wrote: “I was finally bringing the girl of my dreams home so she would meet my mother.”
“The Royal Family had to watch the Queen’s Christmas message on television.
“Diana said it was a command performance.”
Things then became more and more fraught as Diana’s marriage to Charles became increasingly strained as the years progressed.
Eventually, the couple shared their last Christmas together at Sandringham in December 1991 before formally separating on December 9 1992.
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In a further blow, after her separation from Charles, Diana was forced to spend her first Christmas away from her sons Prince William, 42, and Prince Harry, 40.
Instead, the boys, who were just 11 and nine at the time, continued to follow the usual royal tradition of gathering at Sandringham alongside the Queen and other senior royals to mark the occasion.
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