‘That was cold-blooded’: Prince Harry reveals the savage Christmas present he received from Royal relative who always made him feel uneasy

It’s not often that a gift stands out to someone literally born into royalty, but Prince Harry recalls at least one exchange from his childhood a good three decades on.

The n0w-40-year-old prince spent plenty of time in his 2023 autobiography Spare, discussing his childhood in the Royal family, and one story about his Aunt, Princess Margaret, is still catching attention nearly two years later.

Referring to the Princess, who his family commonly referred to as Aunt Margo, as a practical stranger, Harry emphasized in the book that he barely knew the somewhat fringe family member. The two apparently had essentially no interactions across his childhood, despite sharing “12.5 percent” of that Royal DNA.

They did sometimes interact at family gatherings, however, and Harry recalls one holiday moment in particular. He’s not overly clear about exactly how long ago the anecdote comes from, but it’s clear that Harry was a youth when his aunt gifted him a particularly memorable trinket.

Across much of his younger years, the Prince joined his family for Christmases at Sandringham Estate, where the family engaged in traditional royal customs. Even the Royal family exchanges Christmas gifts, however, and it was a small offering from Princess Margaret that caught Harry’s attention that long-ago December day.

In Spare, Harry recalls that “the whole family gathered to open gifts on Christmas Eve, as always, a German tradition that survived the anglicizing of the family surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.”

Shirking the trend of most children, who tend to gravitate toward the largest presents first, Harry instead found himself drawn toward the smallest of his gathered gifts. A simple tag made clear it was “from Aunt Margo,” and, when Harry opened it, he found himself the lucky owner of a new pen. A biro pen, to be precise, also known as a ballpoint pen, and apparently a special one at that.

That much was explained by Harry’s Aunt Margo when he tossed a “thank you” her way, but — despite the Princess’ clarification that it was not just any pen, Harry recalls the interaction as “cold-blooded.” He remembers feeling cold about the gesture as a whole, perhaps due to his longtime perceptions of his aunt, who he asserted could “kill a houseplant with one scowl.”

In excerpts from his book, Harry describes Princess Margaret as yet another Royal “spare,” but also emphasizes that “growing up, I felt nothing for her, except a bit of pity and a lot of jumpiness.” That’s despite parallels he noted, growing up, between her role in the family and his own. He noted that “her relationship with Granny — Queen Elizabeth II — wasn’t an exact analog of mine with Willy, but pretty close.” It seems the Royals have yet to figure out how to raise a Duke — or Duchess — alongside a future King (or Queen) without stoking competition, as Harry noted many of the same trends across his aunt’s relationship with the Queen that have put him at odds, for years, with his brother.

“The simmering rivalry, the intense competition (driven largely by the older sibling), it all looked familiar,” he wrote. Those same issues, paired with plenty more, ultimately led Harry to depart the Royal family, perhaps in pursuit of less-contentious family bonds.