The custom honours their family’s Anglo-German roots
Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet follow a distinctive royal Christmas tradition. The children open their presents on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. This custom, which honours their family’s Anglo-German roots, is detailed in Prince Harry‘s memoir ‘Spare’. Describing a memorable moment from Christmas 2020 in his book, Prince Harry said: “It was Christmas Eve.
“We FaceTimed with several friends, including a few in Britain. We watched Archie running around the tree. And we opened presents, keeping to the Windsor family tradition.”
He added: “One present was a little Christmas ornament of…the Queen! I roared. What the-? Meg had spotted it in a local store and thought I might like it. I held it to the light. It was Granny’s face to a T.
“I hung it on an eye-level branch. It made me happy to see her there. It made Meg and me smile. But then Archie, playing around the tree, jostled the stand, shook the tree, and Granny fell.
“Pieces lay all over the floor. I grabbed a dustpan and swept up the pieces.”
Elaborating on the Christmas Eve present-giving custom. He said: “The whole family gathered to open gifts on Christmas Eve, as always, a German tradition that survived the Anglicising of the family surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.
“We were at Sandringham in a big room with a long table covered with white cloth and white name cards. By custom, at the start of the night, each of us located our place and stood before our mound of presents.
“Then suddenly, everyone began opening at the same time. A free-for-all, with scores of family members talking at once and pulling at bows and tearing at wrapping paper.”
In his 2023 memoir, while Harry documented fond recollections of festive celebrations, he also touched upon more uncomfortable memories of an encounter with his aunt, Princess Margaret, who once presented him with a pen encased in a miniature rubber fish.
Reflecting on the peculiar fish-wrapped pen, Harry remembered thinking the present was “cold-blooded”.
Despite the unusual Christmas offering, Harry would subsequently reflect that he suspects he and Margaret might have formed a closer bond, though he only came to this realisation as her health deteriorated.
He said: “Now and then, as I grew older, it struck me that Aunt Margo and I should’ve been friends. We had so much in common. Two Spares. Her relationship with Granny wasn’t an exact dialogue of mine with Willy, but it was pretty close.
“The simmering rivalry, the intense competition…it all looked familiar. Aunt Margo also wasn’t that dissimilar from Mummy. Both rebels, both labelled as sirens.
“So, my first thought when I learnt in early 2002 that she’d been taken ill was to wish there’d been more time to get to know her.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.liverpoolecho.co.uk ’
