Princess Diana’s Biographer Reveals Her Secret Disdain for Royal Christmas Traditions
Princess Diana's biographer claims she had a disdain for traditional royal Christmas celebrations.
The late Princess Diana had a disdain for traditional royal Christmas celebrations and “hated” spending the festivities at Sandringham, according to her biographer Andrew Morton.
The royal author wrote ‘Diana: Her True Story’ claiming her dislike began as early as her first Sandringham Christmas in 1981 – just five months after she married Charles on July 29, 1981.
Despite Diana being pregnant at the time with Prince William, Princess Diana still took the time “to buy her new family members thoughtful and expensive gifts” reports Vanity Fair.
Diana reportedly told Morton: “It was highly fraught. I know I gave, but I can’t remember being a receiver. Isn’t that awful? I do all the presents, and Charles signs the cards. [It was] terrifying and so disappointing.”
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The late Princess Diana also told the royal biographer she felt as though she was an “outsider”.
She explained: “No boisterous behavior, lots of tension, silly behavior, silly jokes that outsiders would find odd, but insiders understood.”
Diana also reportedly claimed she was “mortified” when she found out the members of the Firm gave each other joke gifts, as she handed her sister-in-law Princess Anne a cashmere sweater, only to receive a toilet paper holder in return.
According to reports, Prince Harry once gave his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth, a hilarious Christmas present that she absolutely loved – a singing fish which she proudly hung in Balmoral as she loved it so much.
The gag gift was reportedly hanging above the grand piano at Balmoral Castle.
Occasionally joke presents were taken seriously, as depicted in Harry’s bombshell memoir, Spare, released in 2023.
Prince Harry has revealed that Princess Margaret only bought him a Biro with a rubber fish around it for Christmas one year – which he saw as “cold-blooded” – and said he thought he and his “Aunt Margo” should have been closer.
The prince shared his wish that he had been closer with Margaret as they had much in common in both being the “spare” to their older sibling with similar “rivalry”.
The Duke also drew comparisons between Margaret and his mother Diana, as they both rebelled against traditional expectations set by the crown.
Princess Margaret died aged in 2002 when Harry was 17. Her health had deteriorated for the last 20 years of her life – in part the result of heavy smoking.
