Princess Anne once left Princess Diana “mortified” after a Christmas present went wrong

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Princess Diana’s first Christmas with the royal family in 1981 wasn’t exactly the cozy family gathering she was hoping for. The royals’ unique holiday traditions – particularly their penchant for “silly joke gifts” – left the young princess feeling more than a bit uncomfortable, especially when it came to a surprise gift from her sister-in-law, Princess Anne.

Diana, already struggling with the oppressive protocols of royal life, was thrust into a world of complicated rules that left her feeling lost and alone. “It was quite stressful,” she told royal biographer Andrew Morton, author of Diana: Her true story – in her own wordswhen it comes to the royal Christmas celebrations.

“Isn’t that terrible?” she continued. “I can’t remember what people bought me. I give all the presents and Prince Charles signs the cards.” The late princess went on to tell Morton that she found Christmas with the royals “terrifying and so disappointing.”

“No boisterous behavior; lots of tension, silly behavior, silly jokes that outsiders would find strange but insiders would understand. I was definitely (an outsider),” Diana added.

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Per Vanity FairPrincess Diana arrived at her first royal Christmas with “thoughtful and expensive gifts from catalogs including Floris soap, cashmere sweaters and luxury children’s clothing.” In return she got… a toilet paper holder.

The late princess “was mortified to discover on Christmas Eve that the royal family were only giving each other silly joke gifts.” Vanity Fair reported, adding that she gave her new sister-in-law, the Princess Royal, a cashmere sweater, while Anne gave Diana a bathroom accessory.

Luckily, Princess Diana took up the tradition in 1982. Per Mirror“The next year she managed to get Fergie a leopard print bath mat.”

For some reason, bathroom-themed gifts seem to be particularly popular with the royals (particularly Princess Anne). It is said that the royal princess once gave her brother, the king, a “white leather toilet seat.” Mirror. Prince Harry also spent a year having fun in the bathroom, hilariously gifting his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, a shower cap with the words “Ain’t life a bitch.”

It seems that over the years, Diana has also discovered a penchant for joke gifts among her own children. The former royal butler recently said this Marie Claire that his late boss once hid a flashy “naked ladies” calendar in Prince William’s stocking “to make him blush.”