When you’re joining your spouse’s family for the holidays for the very first time, deciding what to give as gifts can be a daunting task. And when your spouse’s family is royalty, things get a little stickier. What do you buy for a family that has everything?
Princess Diana didn’t get the memo during her first Christmas as a royal that gag gifts are the presents du jour on Christmas Eve at the Palace. So instead of buying Princess Anne a whoopee cushion or one of those “I went to Buckingham Palace and all I got was a royal waste of my time” t-shirt, she got her a cashmere sweater. What a jerk. In return, she got a toilet paper cozy.
(Also, Prince Charles. Where you at? You couldn’t have informed your wife of this royal tradition?)
According to InStyle, Di made good the following year and bought Sarah Ferguson a leopard print bathmat. In addition, InStyle compiled a list of what other royals have received over the years:
Hall of fame mentions go to Kate Middleton, who once gifted then-single Prince Harry a “Grow Your Own Girlfriend” kit; Princess Anne, who gave her brother Prince Charles a leather toilet seat that he actually loves and reportedly travels with; and Prince Harry, who gifted his grandmother — the QUEEN — the aforementioned message-bearing bath hat.
And for Meghan Markle’s first Christmas with the royal family last year, she gave the Queen a little stuffed hamster that sings. “It was so funny, especially when the corgis tried to take hold of the toy. She laughed and said ‘they can keep my dogs company,” a source told The Daily Star.
The Queen reportedly burst out laughing when her corgis came through and tried to snatch the critter away from her. Adds the source, “She laughed and said, ‘they can keep my dogs company.”
