She might have made a faux pas at the first Christmas gift exchange, but she certainly recovered by the next Christmas.
When you think of the royal family, you might think of sophistication, traditions, rules, polite smiles and no-nonsense manner, especially in public. At least barring Princess Diana who tended to break those traditions and enjoy life to the fullest whether it was with her kids, the public or helping those in need.
However, as buttoned-up as the royal family members might seem, it's important to remember they're human too. And that means they too like to enjoy jokes and laughter about silly things which is actually what they do every Christmas. After all, it's no different from any of the holiday traditions you might have with your family.
But if you thought Princess Diana only ever shocked them, think again because on her very first royal Christmas, she was taken aback by the kinds of gifts the royals gave each other as part of their tradition.
According to Town and Country Mag, every year on Christmas Eve, the members of the royal family meet at the Sandringham Estate. It is on this day that the entire family including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren exchange presents.
They do it on the eve of Christmas as a way to honor their German ancestry. Once afternoon tea is over, the family is said to gather in the red drawing room at 6:00 PM where gifts have been quietly and discreetly laid out for each family member.
And that is exactly where the stoicism of the tradition stops. The only rule in their gift choices is that it be funny. After that, it's bombs away. “Resident jokester Prince Philip ‘supervises the proceedings’ and tells the rest of the fam when it’s time to open their ‘cheap and cheerful’ gifts,” InStyle reported. According to Insider, royal biographer Brian Hoey stated that Prince Harry reportedly gave the queen a shower cap in 2013 that said, "Ain't life a b****" — and she loved it.
However, while the members were more than happy to shower each other with such quirky gifts, in 1981, Princess Diana didn't exactly get the memo. According to Reader's Digest, the People's Princess was on the safe side that holiday season and gave her new sister-in-law, Princess Anne a cashmere sweater. In return, her sister-in-law gifted upon her a toilet paper cover. Surprised but understanding her faux pas, she recovered well and the next year, she gifted Princess Anne a leopard-print bath mat.
This was only the beginning. Hoey also wrote that Princess Anne once got Prince Charles a leather toilet seat that he loves so much he takes it with him while traveling. Additionally, it was reported that before Prince Harry was dating Meghan Markle, his sister-in-law Kate Middleton, wanting to prove she could match up to her in-laws' sense of humor, gave him a "Grow Your Own Girlfriend" gift as a gag. And when Markle entered Prince Harry's life, she too stepped up to the plate when it came to gift-giving.
According to Express UK, just weeks after the two announced their engagement, the then-fiance to the Duke of Sussex gave Her Majesty a singing toy hamster — something that is said to have left the Queen in hysterics.
So what do you learn from all this? Well, one, for all their elegance, they too can have a sense of humor. Two, this Christmas, when you're thinking of what to buy for your loved ones, you too can take the inexpensive, chuckle-inducing route. And you can tell your family that that's how the royals do it.
Merry Christmas and happy shopping in advance!
References:
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a25461102/royal-family-christmas-gifts/
https://www.instyle.com/news/princess-diana-christmas-royal-faux-pas
https://www.insider.com/royal-family-christmas-presents-2017-12
https://www.rd.com/culture/princess-diana-broke-tradition-first-royal-christmas/
