In Andrew Morton’s landmark biography of Diana, he writes her disdain for royal family Christmases began as early as 1981, the year she married Prince Charles

Since stepping down from their royal duties in 2020, Harry and Meghan have routinely been cut from royal events. The couple did not receive an invite to Trooping the Color, an annual celebration of the reigning monarch’s birthday, for the second time in a row this year, per Harper’s Bazaar.

According to royal biographer Andrew Morton, Princess Diana "hated" Christmas with the royal family, and found their traditions "terrifying and so disappointing" and "highly fraught." She confided in several of her friends at the time,