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Lifestyle
Jack Slater

Princess Catherine's personal gift for Queen Elizabeth at first Christmas together could have gone 'horribly wrong'

Catherine Queen Elizabeth II Mark Cuthbert Royal Family UK Press
Kate Middleton and Queen Elizabeth II attend Vernon Park during a Diamond Jubilee visit to Nottingham on June 13, 2012.

Despite dating Prince William since around 2003, it wasn’t for eight more years that the Princess of Wales spent her first Christmas at Sandringham House with the Royal Family. It's been suggested that Queen Elizabeth had invited her for Christmas Day years earlier, but that Catherine turned down the offer, respecting tradition.

It's usual for partners to only experience a royal Christmas after they're married. With this milestone reached in 2011, Catherine had to think about what she would gift the late Queen Elizabeth - and she decided to make it personal.

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