Charles and Diana Showed They Didn’t ‘Communicate Very Well’ With This Christmas Fail, According to Commentators: ‘Poor Thing!’
A Christmas mistake of royal proportions. King Charles III and the late Princess Diana reportedly fumbled the British royal family’s Christmas tradition during their first holiday season as a married couple. The situation left Diana “annoyed,” per commentators, and the pair looking like they didn’t “communicate very well.” Ahead, what happened when they opened Christmas presents in 1981. Plus, how the royal family’s celebrating this year.
British royals exchange gag gifts at Christmas
Despite many royals having impressive net worths, they don’t put a dent in their bank accounts come Christmas. At least where the larger family gathering is concerned.
The royal family’s tradition is to buy each other inexpensive gag gifts. According to Phil Dampier, a royal expert, the custom extends only to grown-ups. “The children,” he told OK, “get serious presents. Sometimes, even horses or guns. But the adults share joke gifts worth very little.”
Royal family gag gifts have included everything from a squeaking hamster toy and ‘cereal killer’ bowl and spoon to an ‘Ain’t life a b****’ shower cap and “Grow Your Own Girlfriend” kit.
Charles didn’t tell Diana the royal family exchanges gag Christmas gifts, gave Princess Anne a cashmere sweater
There’s nothing funny about a cozy sweater as a Christmas gift, which Diana quickly learned in 1981. During her first holiday season as the Princess of Wales, the then-20-year-old reportedly gifted her sister-in-law, Princess Anne, now 73, a cashmere sweater.
There was no silly phrase written on the front or joke element in keeping with tradition. It was simply a nice gift. However, that’s not how the royal family does things.
As Zoe Borrell and Angela Mollard discussed on the “Royals” podcast, Diana didn’t follow the rules. “So she had got Princess Anne this gorgeous cashmere jumper,” Mollard said, calling it “all very sensible and expensive,” (via Express).
Diana “handed it over, and she hadn’t been made aware that it was just novelty presents,” the podcast co-host explained. “Poor thing! They don’t communicate very well.”
“Charles should have told her that before they went!” Borrell said. But, as Mollard pointed out, things between King Charles and Diana weren’t going well despite their newlywed status.
“I don’t think they were talking much!” she said. “They got married in August [July 31, 1981], and I don’t think they were talking by December. So he didn’t give her that information, and she was very annoyed about it.”
How the royal family is celebrating Christmas 2023
The royal family’s second Christmas without Queen Elizabeth II is set to be filled with traditions as well as a few changes. Similar to recent years, Harry and Meghan aren’t expected to join their fellow royals at Sandringham.
As for the rest of the royal family’s 2023 Christmas guest list, some new faces will be part of the festivities, per Vanity Fair. Unlike years past, when Queen Camilla left after Christmas dinner to spend the evening with her children and grandchildren, she’s having them at Sandringham.
Meaning Queen Camilla’s son and daughter, Tom Parker Bowles and Laura Lopes, along with their partners and children, will be at Sandringham. Also there will be Camilla’s sister, Annabel Elliot.
Meanwhile, Prince William and Kate Middleton and their three children will do the annual royal family Christmas festivities — food, presents, and church — before celebrating with the Middleton family at nearby Anmer Hall, a tradition started in 2011.
