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Princess Diana “hated” spending Christmas with the royals at Sandringham.
The claim was made by Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and author of “My Mother and I,” which explores King Charles’ relationship with his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
“A friend of mine worked there at the time,” Seward told Fox News Digital about the country estate where the royals celebrate the holidays.
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Princess Diana leaves Sandringham Church after attending the Christmas service with Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II. (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
“Diana hated Sandringham,” said Seward. “Even when her romance with Charles was going well, she still didn’t like it… I think she found it claustrophobic because Diana was such a free spirit. She didn’t want to have to enjoy herself with so many rules. [But] they’re not rules. They’re just traditions of royalty.”
“There’s an order of precedence – who goes through the door first – and all kinds of things,” Seward explained. “It’s very archaic, and I think it made Diana feel uncomfortable.”
Vanity Fair recently revisited Andrew Morton’s 1992 bestseller, “Diana: Her True Story.” The late Princess of Wales secretly collaborated with the British journalist to share her struggles with royal life.
Princess Diana rocked the monarchy when she leaked shocking details of palace life to author Andrew Morton for his book. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/AFP via Getty Images)
Like Seward, Morton said Diana “hated” Christmas at Sandringham. He claimed her disdain for the tradition began at her first Christmas at the estate with the royals in 1981, five months after she married then-Prince Charles. By then, she was already pregnant with their first child, Prince William.
“I think she found it claustrophobic because Diana was such a free spirit. She didn’t want to have to enjoy herself with so many rules. [But] they’re not rules. They’re just traditions of royalty.”
— Ingrid Seward, author of “My Mother and I”
Princess Diana spent her first Christmas in Sandringham with the royals in 1981, five months after she married then-Prince Charles. (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
According to Morton, Diana took the time “to buy her new family members thoughtful and expensive gifts” while she was suffering from morning sickness. Despite her efforts, Diana was “mortified” to discover that the royal family typically gave each other gag gifts – a memo that Charles forgot to give his wife.
Diana gifted her sister-in-law Princess Anne a cashmere sweater. In return, she got a toilet paper holder.
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Prince Charles is seen here out shooting at Sandringham with his wife Princess Diana. (Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
“It was highly fraught,” Diana told Morton. “I know I gave, but I can’t remember being a receiver. Isn’t that awful? I do all the presents, and Charles signs the cards. [It was] terrifying and so disappointing. No boisterous behavior, lots of tension, silly behavior, silly jokes that outsiders would find odd, but insiders understood.”
“I sure was [an outsider],” Diana added.
Seward said she wrote about that incident “years and years ago” before Diana confirmed it through Morton.
Princess Diana was “mortified” when she found out that the royals give each other gag gifts on Christmas. (Tom Stoddart/Getty Images)
“My friend who worked there was looking after Diana,” said Seward. “They went off shopping and… bought beautiful cashmere sweaters, Floris soap and things like that… And she was absolutely mortified when she’d got these really beautiful presents… all sorts of very expensive, but small gifts, and she was given a bath hat or something.”
Ingrid Seward’s book, “My Mother and I,” is available now. (Simon & Schuster UK)
“She just couldn’t understand [it],” Seward shared. “To her, Christmas was all about spending a bit more than you could probably afford and getting really nice presents.”
While the royal traditions didn’t give Diana Christmas cheer, Seward said the princess had known Sandringham “all her life.”
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Lady Diana, 3, at Park House, Sandringham. (Getty Images)
“She used to live there,” said Seward. “Her father had a house on the estate literally down the road from the big royal house. Diana… spent a lot of time there. When she was a little girl, she used to go there and play with [Prince] Andrew and [Prince] Edward. So it wasn’t a strange place to her at all.”
Diana’s hairdresser, Richard Dalton, also told author Kitty Kelley for her book “The Royals” that “the princess just hated going to Sandringham for Christmas.”
“She told me it was freezing cold, and dinner had to be over by 3 o’clock,” Dalton claimed. “‘It’s 3 and time to watch me on TV,’ she’d say, imitating you-know-who. The royal family had to watch the queen’s Christmas message on television.”
WATCH: PRINCESS DIANA ‘HATED’ CHRISTMAS WITH ROYALS AT SANDRINGHAM: AUTHOR
“Diana said it was a command performance,” Dalton added.
An unnamed friend of Diana’s also told Tina Brown for her book, “The Diana Chronicles,” that she dreaded heading to Sandringham.
“Whenever we talked it was all about tactics – what to do next,” the pal claimed.
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Princess Diana at a Christmas Day service at Sandringham Church, December 1990. The Princess of Wales and her husband announced their separation two years later. (Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)
British royal expert Hilary Fordwich previously told Fox News Digital that Diana’s attempt to win over her family with her gifts proved to be an “embarrassing and painful experience.”
“She wasn’t informed that the family exchanges are inexpensive and often joke gifts,” said Fordwich. “Diana went to great lengths to purchase extravagant cashmere sweaters and mohair scarves. Since gifts are opened up with everyone watching, the entire room collapsed into giggles, laughing at her, not with her.”
True Royalty TV co-founder Nick Bullen also previously told Fox News Digital that on Christmas Eve, the royals like to gather around to exchange wild and wacky presents.
Sandringham house, a country estate which is privately owned by the British royal family. (RDImages/Epics/Getty Images)
“[The royals] do like to have fun,” said Bullen. “The presents they give to each other are normally quite silly. If you’ve got all the greatest jewelry in the world, all the greatest works of art in the world, all the greatest clothes in the world, what do you give each other on Christmas? It tends to be small joke presents.”
“Do you know what a whoopee cushion is?” Bullen chuckled. “I’ve heard that they’ve been given in the past. I’ve heard that silly bath toys [were also] given in the past. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. But slightly rude, slightly funny, slightly on the edge presents are of the order of the day.”
“Queen Elizabeth II decreed early on that since the royal family is blessed with wealth and luxuries beyond imagining, presents exchanged should be gag gifts of the whoopee cushion variety,” chimed Christopher Andersen, author of “The King.”
BRITISH ROYALS EXCHANGE ‘SLIGHTLY RUDE’ CHRISTMAS GIFTS, INCLUDING WHOOPEE CUSHIONS AND TOILET SEATS
Princess Diana after she switched on the Christmas lights in Bond Street, Central London, circa 1993. (Kent Gavin/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
“Charles’s favorite Christmas gift was an upholstered white leather toilet seat – a gift from his sister Princess Anne,” Andersen claimed. “He liked it so much that he still travels with it when he goes abroad.”
Charles and Diana separated on Dec. 9, 1992. Their divorce was finalized in 1996.
