Princess Diana’s Way of Christmas Shopping Is Long Gone for British Royals: ‘That Doesn’t Happen Now’
British royals don’t do their Christmas shopping like Princess Diana did. The late royal got the VIP treatment when it came to shopping during the holidays. Now, years later, members of The Firm have a different approach to doing their Christmas shopping.
Stores closed for Princess Diana to do Christmas shopping
Diana, who died in 1997 at the age of 36, did her Christmas shopping in perhaps the dreamiest of ways for those who might currently be fighting crowds a la Jingle All the Way. According to King Charles III’s former butler Grant Harrold, the late royal had stores to herself.
“In the past, stores would close for Princess Diana,” Harrold told the U.K.’s Mirror. “That doesn’t happen now.” These days, members of The Firm embrace low-key shopping trips and the element of surprise.
“The royals are very discreet. They always have a bodyguard for protection,” Harrold explained. “But people don’t recognise [sic] them because you don’t expect to see a King or a future Queen browsing in your local store.”
Royals do their Christmas shopping during regular business hours
Harrold continued, saying although British royals certainly have the budget to splurge on Christmas gifts, they don’t favor extravagant gifts come Christmas.
King Charles “hates being given anything extravagant and expensive,” Harrold said. “He’d be embarrassed if you spent a fortune on him. He’d say, ‘That’s lovely but you really shouldn’t have.’” (The former royal butler used to gift King Charles gardening books or honey-based products.)
Royals traditionally exchange gag gifts for Christmas—Prince Harry once gave Queen Elizabeth II a shower cap, Meghan Markle gave the monarch a hampster toy for her dogs—and keep the cost low. That means they’re not likely to shop in luxury stores for Christmas gifts, but someplace more affordable.
“Everyone assumes the royals only shop in the poshest stores. But they go to the same shops that we do,” Harrold said. “I’m not saying they never go to Harrods. It’s said the late Queen [Elizabeth II] did some Christmas shopping there with her cousin [the Duchess of Kent] in the 1950s. But she would often nip to her local shops in Ballater village, near Balmoral. The royals enjoy a bargain.”
With that in mind, the former royal butler explained that members of the public could spot some familiar faces out shopping because the deals often happen during regular business hours.
Younger British royals do their Christmas shopping online
Don’t expect to see the likes of, say, King Charles III and Queen Camilla buying Christmas gifts online. Harrold shared that older generations of British royals are more likely to be seen shopping in person. Why? Because “the younger ones, especially, are very savvy with online shopping, making Christmas shopping easier.”
Younger royals, he added, are also more likely to wrap Christmas gifts themselves. “I can easily see Kate, William, and even [Princess] Anne wrapping their own presents but not the King,” he said. “He’ll have someone do that for him.”
