A royal insider has revealed that Meghan Markle was 'very worried about putting a foot wrong' at Christmas with her husband's family.
- On the Channel 4 programme, 'A Very Royal Christmas: Sandringham Secrets', a royal commentator Richard Kay said that the Duchess of Sussex "would have been very worried, I’m sure, about putting a foot wrong.”
- The show also revealed insights into other classic Christmas traditions of the royal family.
- In other royal news, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge shared a previous unseen photo on the family's Christmas card.
The Channel 4 show, 'A Very Royal Christmas: Sandringham Secrets', explored what the festive season is like every year with royal insiders offering their knowledge on how Christmas goes ahead at Sandringham.
Answering the narrator's question, "With all the royal rules and traditions, does the Sandringham Christmas ever get too much?", royal commentator Richard Kay claimed that the Duchess of Sussex may have found the whole event somewhat overwhelming and perhaps even a little intimidating.
He said, “I imagine it must have been an incredible ordeal for Meghan, being introduced [to the family], not just having to get used to these sort of foreign traditions, but then the whole obligations that come with celebrating with the Royal Family where everything has to be just so."
“She would have been very worried, I’m sure, about putting a foot wrong.”
There has been much said about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Christmas plans this year but before the couple moved over to the States with their son Archie, Meghan did spend multiple Christmases at Sandringham with the whole royal family.
Nervous about what to buy the monarch, it's been reported that Meghan settled on a talking hamster one year, under the rule that the Queen only receives impractical and novel gifts from members of her family.
But Meghan is not the only royal to have struggled with the extensive list of do's and don'ts that the day comes with, according to some royal commentators on the show.
“I can imagine that as joyful and wonderful as it undoubtedly is, there will probably be moments of stress and tension for members of the Royal Family." Royal commentator Katie Nicholl said, “After all, they’re not in their own home and they are doing everything understandably so, by the Queen’s book of a royal Christmas."
Princess Diana was apparently "climbing the walls" and "couldn't wait to escape" towards the end of the festive period, "keen to disappear into her room as much as she could", but she liked to go into the kitchen for a chat with the staff after it was all over.
Kate Middleton also worried about what to buy the monarch. Speaking on a documentary for the Queen's 90th birthday, she said,“I can remember being at Sandringham, for the first time, at Christmas. And I was worried about what to give the Queen as her Christmas present.
“I was thinking, Gosh, what should I give her?’”
Eventually Kate settled on her "granny’s recipe for chutney", which was an idea she admitted "could have gone horribly wrong" but luckily, it was a big success.
Amongst other revelations in the Channel 4 programme, it was suggested that conversation around the Queen on Christmas had to be limited, with certain topics definitely off the table. These included discussions about politics and any ongoing family feuds or dramas, as only "polite conversation" was allowed in the "family atmosphere" of Christmas lunch.
'A Very Royal Christmas: Sandringham Secrets' aired on November 30 and is still available to stream.
