Princess Diana broke the Queen's 'golden rule' during her first royal Christmas

Princess Diana broke an all-important "golden rule" when she attended her first royal Christmas as Prince Charles' new wife in 1981.

• A royal Christmas present tradition of exchanging silly and cheap gifts on Christmas Eve left Princess Diana breaking one of the Queen's golden rules.
• Diana, unaware of the rule of avoiding expensive gifts, slipped up and bought a lovely gift for Princess Anne.
• In other royal news, the Queen has issued a heartbreaking plea to Prince William after being kept ‘awake at night’ by grandson’s ‘risk’.

As a tribute to their German roots, the royals have openly shared that they prefer to exchange smaller, lighthearted gifts on Christmas Eve.

During her first Christmas with The Firm at Sandringham, Princess Diana missed the mark when it came to the tradition for cheap and cheerful presents.

Instead of a cheeky novelty gift, Diana presented Princess Anne with a rather luxurious present.

Going down the route of a glamorous gift, the Princess of Wales bought her new sister-in-law a beautiful cashmere sweater, breaking the rule of inexpensive, cheery, and humorous gifts.

However, the following Christmas, Diana hit the nail on the head by buying a leopard print bath mat for her sister-in-law Sarah Ferguson.

Princess Di wasn't the only new royal bride to have to adapt to the strange festive rule. Megan Markle continued the custom of unusual royal Christmas gifts by purchasing a singing toy hamster for the Queen and a novelty spoon with 'cereal killer' written on for Prince William, during her first year at Sandringham.

In the past, Princess Anne bought her brother Charles a white leather toilet seat, while the Queen was reportedly given a shower cap with the words 'Ain't life a b*tch?' written on, by her grandson Prince Harry.

Following a run of high-profile romances before to his marriage to Megan Markle, Kate Middleton famously gave Harry a 'build your own girlfriend' kit.

Unlike other British families, the royals open their gifts on Christmas Eve, in keeping with their Germanic roots. Before each family member opens their gifts, they are cornered off into a pile around 6pm. The process was previously handled by Prince Philip, who gave each royal permission to unwrap their gifts.