Princess Diana did what we would all do during her first royal Christmas

In the lead up to Christmas, we love digging up our favourite royal traditions — y'know, to observe how the most regal 0.00001 per cent celebrate the festivities of the season.

Part of that is hearing stories about what the family give each other on Christmas morning. What could you possibly gift to someone who literally has… a kingdom?

Joke gifts, apparently, are the expected norm in the Windsor household.

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In 2017, Meghan Markle gifted Queen Elizabeth a singing hamster, one that she thought was "so funny".

"She laughed and said ‘they can keep my dogs company!'" a source recalled.

In 2011, way before Meghan, Kate got Harry a 'grow your own girlfriend' kit. Harry once gave Her Majesty a shower cap that said 'Ain't life a b***h' on it.

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So, as you can tell with gifts in the royal family: the cheaper and funnier, the better.

However, in her first Christmas at Sandringham as part of the royal family, Princess Diana apparently didn't get the memo.

The Mirror reports that in 1981, Princess Diana gave Princess Anne a cashmere sweater. Which is, for all intents and purposes, a very lovely gift.

However, due to the time-honoured tradition of silly gifts, it was awkwardly received.

Made even more awkward by the fact that Anne gave Di a toilet roll holder in return.

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Sorry but we're with Di on this one. Girl is spending her first ever Christmas with the most famously posh family in the entire world so what does she do? She buys them a present fit for royalty. 

Also, if the whole 'joke presents' thing was sooOOoo obvious, why didn't Charles give her a heads up?

Di seemed to bounce back with trademark grace, however, when she gifted Sarah Ferguson a leopard print bathmat the following year. That's our gal.