Prince Harry’s ‘cold-blooded’ present from unlikely royal family member

Prince Harry is celebrating his 40th birthday and the duke will surely be hoping he doesn’t receive any unusual gifts like the one an unlikely royal family member surprised him with

Prince Harry turns 40 today and King Charles’ son’s life has changed greatly in the past ten years.

No longer a working royal, Harry now lives Stateside with his wife Meghan Markle and children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Plans to celebrate his big birthday are said to include a lads weekend with close pals and spending time with his family of four, with whom he lives in Montecito, California.

While Harry’s relationship with his extended family has soured in recent years, he was previously a firm fixture at the royal Christmas celebrations.

And with the royals living incredibly privileged lives, they opt to buy small, cheap, joke festive presents for each other as a sweet tradition.

Harry and Meghan laughing at an event
Harry married his wife Meghan Markle in 2018 ( 
Image:
Getty)

A candid shot of Harry's family of four
The family now live in Montecito, California ( 
Image:
alexilubomirski/Instagram)
But it seems Harry was left baffled one year by one gift he received from an unlikely royal relative – and he even branded it ‘cold-blooded’. Writing in his memoir Spare, Harry recalls his great-aunt and the late Queen’s sister Princess Margaret – or ‘Aunt Margo’ as he calls her – and claims he didn’t know her very well despite sharing ‘12.5 per cent’ of her DNA.

He writes that on a Christmas Eve at Sandringham Estate when everyone was getting ready to open their gifts, Margaret gifted him an unusual present – a tiny biro with a rubber fish wrapped around it. He recalls: “Standing before my pile, I chose to open the smallest present first. The tag said: ‘From Aunt Margo’. I looked over, called out: ‘Thank you, Aunt Margo!’” After opening the gift, Harry claims he was surprised and thanked Margaret, who he says pointed out that it was not just any biro, but a special one.

Harry adds: “It wasn’t just any biro, she pointed out. It had a tiny rubber fish wrapped around it. I said: ‘Oh. A fish biro! OK.’ I told myself: That is cold-blooded.” In his book, Harry also adds that growing up he thought he and Margaret should have been friends as they were “Two Spares” and had a lot in common.

The memoir says: “Her relationship with Granny wasn’t an exact analogue of mine with Willy, but pretty close. The simmering rivalry, the intense competition (driven largely by the older sibling), it all looked familiar. Aunt Margo also wasn’t that dissimilar from Mummy. Both rebels, both labelled as sirens.”

Relations between Prince William and Harry have long been strained despite their closeness in their younger years. The fallout is said to have begun before Harry’s wedding to former Suits star Meghan Markle, with the duke accusing William of being snobbish to his bride.

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But it worsened after the accusations Harry publicly levelled at his brother in double tell-alls: his memoir, Spare, and his Netflix documentary. In his autobiography, released just months after Queen Elizabeth II died, Harry accused William of physically attacking him and pushing him into a dog bowl in a row over Meghan.

Harry also wrote of how Charles pleaded with his two sons during a tense meeting at Windsor just after the funeral of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, saying: “Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery.”