{"id":642829,"date":"2025-12-19T19:58:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/642829\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T19:58:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:58:22","slug":"former-royal-butler-says-princess-dianas-christmases-were-close-knit-and-simple-compared-to-victorian-royal-extravagance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/642829\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Royal Butler Says Princess Diana’s Christmases Were “Close-Knit and Simple” Compared to “Victorian” Royal Extravagance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Princess Diana<\/a> didn\u2019t hide her feelings<\/a> when it came to visiting the Sandringham estate<\/a> for Christmas, telling biographer Andrew Morton that the experience was \u201cterrifying and so disappointing<\/a>\u201d on numerous levels. The \u201cminefield\u201d of royal rules<\/a> and traditions left her feeling exhausted, and Diana\u2019s former butler, Paul Burrell<\/a>, says that the princess eventually decided she\u2019d rather spend Christmas \u201cby herself<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to Marie Claire on behalf of Casino.org<\/a>, Burrell, who worked for Diana for the last decade of her life, says that the princess \u201ctried her very best\u201d to fit in at Sandringham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, he shares that the late royal found \u201cthe endless timetable\u201d at the royal residence to be \u201crelentless.\u201d Burrell explains, \u201cYou had to be downstairs for breakfast, in the dining room for lunch at one o\u2019clock, in the drawing room for tea at five, then changing again to go down for a drink before dinner at 8:15. The day flew by, yet it was all so regimented, and you always had to be dressed appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

\n

\"Princess\n<\/p>\n

Princess Diana is seen on a snowy Christmas morning in 1985 with the former Prince Andrew (second from left), Princess Anne and Zara Phillips (now Tindall). <\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

With royal women expected to change \u201cthree or four times\u201d throughout the day, the former butler, who previously served as a footman to Queen Elizabeth<\/a>, says that Sandringham was like \u201ca minefield\u201d of expectations to Diana. \u201cShe couldn\u2019t stand the protocol,\u201d Burrell adds.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cShe tried so hard to fit in, but she didn\u2019t like it,\u201dhe tells Marie Claire. \u201cShe felt trapped. She would often say to me, \u2018I\u2019m climbing the walls at Sandringham because I don\u2019t fit in. I don\u2019t belong to that Victorian world. I want to be free of it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After Charles and Diana separated in 1992<\/a>, Diana made two more appearances in Norfolk for the royal family Christmas celebrations, but that ended after she received a frosty reception from the family in 1994. Instead, the late princess decided to stay home at Kensington Palace<\/a> for the last two Christmases of her life.<\/p>\n

Burrell shares that Diana\u2019s festivities \u201cwere actually very simple and never elaborate at all.\u201d The weekend before Prince William<\/a> and Prince Harry<\/a> would join their father, grandparents and other relatives in Norfolk, Diana would hold \u201ctheir own small Christmas at Kensington Palace\u201d including a lunch and gifts.<\/p>\n

Get exclusive access to fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Princess\n<\/p>\n

Princess Diana is seen switching on the 1993 Bond Street Christmas light display in London.<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cDiana\u2019s Christmas was always very close-knit and very simple,\u201d Burrell shares.<\/p>\n

Although the former butler says he \u201chated leaving her\u201d on Christmas Day, Diana would insist he go home and spend time with his family. As for Princess Diana\u2019s typical Christmas schedule, he says the late royal would exercise, then \u201csit at her desk for most of the day, writing thank-you letters for all the Christmas presents she had received, using her time productively with her correspondence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Diana’s Christmas was \u201cisolated,\u201d Burrell says \u201cthat was the way she liked it,\u201d preferring to keep her own company instead of face the endless walks, games<\/a> and shooting parties at Sandringham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Princess Diana didn\u2019t hide her feelings when it came to visiting the Sandringham estate for Christmas, telling biographer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[5105,7710,519,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-642829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-royal","9":"tag-royal-families","10":"tag-royal-family","11":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115748008686686834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}