Advent Calendar Day 13: What does the Queen get for Christmas?

If you thought your family indulged in some strange traditions over the festive season, spare a thought for the Royal Family. There are three strict rules when the Royal Family sit down to open Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. It is a tradition dating back decades and involves the exchange of ‘gag’ gifts – after all, what do you get the family that has everything? But like any royal tradition, there are strict procedures and rules that must be followed – at the Queen’s order. The Royal Family sit down at exactly 6pm on Christmas Eve to open their presents in the red drawing room at Sandringham. That afternoon, the family members have to try and creep down and place their gifts without being spotted. In the room trestle tables are laid out and sections marked off with tables to show where each family member’s presents should be.

The rules are:

1. No-one should open their presents until given permission by Prince Philip, who supervises the proceedings.

2. Every pesent should be a cheap „joke gift”. The cheaper the better. The most memorable Christmas presents down the years are a ’Ain’t Life a Bitch’ bath hat given the Queen by Harry, a ’grow-your-own-girlfriend’ kit given to Harry by Kate (before he began dating Meghan Markle), and a white leather toilet seat given by Princess Anne to Prince Charles, although he actually liked it so much that he now takes it with him on overseas tours. Princess Diana once fell foul of the family’s ’cheap and cheerful’ motto when on her first Christmas at Sandringham as a newly-wed in 1981 she bought everyone cashmere sweaters and mohair scarves to general amusement. Princess Anne, in return, handed over a loo-roll holder. But the next year Princess Diana cracked it when she gave Fergie a leopard print bath mat.

The Royal Family has some other quirky Christmas traditions including giving over 1,500 Christmas puddings to palace staff and dressing up in a black tie for an intimate family dinnner. The Queen and Prince Philip stay in Sandringham until early February in memory of Her Majesty’s late dad George VI, who died at the estate on February 6, 1952. Not in the least superstitious the Queen insists on the Christmas decorations remaining up until she leaves.

Can you find the equvivalent of these Hungarian sentences in the script?

1. Egyáltalán nem babonás.

2. Senkinek sem szabad kibontania az ajándékát.

3. Minél olcsóbb, annál jobb.

4. Szigorú eljárásokat és szabályokat kell követni.

5. A királyi családnak más fura karácsonyi szokása is van.

Key

1. Not in the least superstitious.

2. No-one should open their presents.

3. The cheaper the better.

4. Strict procedures and rules that must be followed.

5. The Royal Family has some other quirky Christmas traditions.