Princess Diana humiliated after buying 'wrong Christmas present' for Royal Family
Princess Diana 'didn't get the memo', during her first Christmas with the Royal Family.
The late Princess Diana, "didn't get the memo", during her first Christmas with the Royal Family, leading to an embarrassing blunder when they all exchanged gifts. In keeping with their German heritage, the Firm swaps gifts on Christmas Eve, and often give each other cheap, joke presents.
However, no one thought to tell the young Princess of Wales, and instead of getting a novelty gift, she bought expensive Cashmere scarves and other luxury items for her in-laws.
To add further embarrassment, the items were opened up in front of the whole family, who witnessed the gift-giving gaffe.
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Princess Anne, who is known for giving the best joke gifts, gave Diana a toilet roll holder, but in return she received a cashmere jumper.
Another example of a joke present given by family members was a 'grow your own girlfriend' kit to Prince Harry, before he met his now-wife, Meghan Markle.
The Princess Royal also reportedly decided to give her brother a leather toilet seat for Christmas in a joke about him one day becoming King.
Dickie Arbiter, a former royal press secretary, explained the thinking behind the cheeky gift. He said: "What is it we used to call the loo? We would call it the throne. You go and sit on the throne. So buying a leather-bound loo seat was really Princess Anne's way of saying, 'Here you are, you've got your own personal throne'."
In his memoir, Spare, Harry once described how a "rubber fish" pen was given to him by Princess Margaret. Remembering it being the smallest present in his pile that season, Harry refers to the token as "cold-blooded" in the book.
There is usually a strict schedule in place for the main festivities in Sandringham the next day. On Christmas Day, the Royal Family starts with a full English breakfast, before going to St Mary Magdalene's church near the estate.
The day work by a strict timetable with junior staff eating at 11am, senior staff at midday, the royals at 1:15pm, the junior kitchen staff at 2:15pm and then everything stops while the King's speech is on at 3pm.
Only afterwards do the senior footmen and butlers get a chance to eat, with the royal chef last to eat at around 4pm.
