Princess Diana's final Christmas was reportedly a solitary affair, as she spent it away from both her sons.
By the festive season of 1996, Diana had been divorced from the now King Charles III for a few months after their official split in 1992. While William and Harry joined the Royal Family at Sandringham to honour the royal holiday customs, Diana is said to have spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day alone.
In a gesture of kindness, she allegedly gave her staff the day off to be with their families. In a conversation with French publication Gala, former royal chef Darren McGrady shed light on Princess Diana's lonely Christmases, calling them 'pretty sad'.
He shared as detailed in the Mirror: "It was always pretty sad when you worked with the Princess on Christmas Eve. William and Harry were going to Sandringham and Princess Diana was there, alone. She insisted that the staff spend time with their families for Christmas and that we leave the food in the refrigerator."
McGrady revealed that the staff would prepare meals ahead of time for Diana to heat up herself during this lonesome period. It's believed that Diana did not relish Christmas at Sandringham, feeling unwelcome following her separation from Charles.
In 2015, a close friend of the princess gave some insight into what these tense visits were really like for the mother-of-two. According to Richard Kay from the Daily Mail, in 1993, one year after her highly publicised separation from Charles, Diana "did join the family at Sandringham on Christmas Eve, stayed overnight, and went with everyone to church."
He added: "But she didn't stay for lunch. Instead, she went home alone to Kensington Palace and spent the rest of the day there before flying to Washington to stay with friends. The same thing happened in 1994, but Diana felt she was given a 'frosty' reception by the other royals."
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A source told Kay: "Diana didn't feel welcome at all. She could see how her being there just made everyone so tense and uneasy. She'd joined them for the boys' sake, but it wasn't working."
In tape recordings presented to Andrew Morton for his bestselling biography Diana: Her True Story, the princess recounted feeling like an 'outsider' during her trips to Sandringham, which she described as being "terrifying and so disappointing".
She recalled: "No boisterous behaviour, lots of tension, silly behaviour, silly jokes that outsiders would find odd but insiders understood. I sure was [an outsider]."
The 2021 film Spencer, set during Christmas 1991, delves into Diana's anguish during such 'highly fraught' visits, with the story centred around a turning point in her long-fractured marriage.
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