The Royal Family’s “Sweet” Christmas Tradition that Meghan Markle Still Loves

Meghan Markle hasn’t spent Christmas in the U.K. since 2018, but there is one Christmas tradition that she still carries on now that she and her husband, Prince Harry, live in Montecito. The Royal Family partakes in the very British tradition of Christmas crackerssmall, paper wrapped tubes typically filled with a small gift, a crown, and a paper joke or fact. In her festive Netflix special, entitled With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, Meghan makes the classic British tradition her own.

"It actually does feel really connected and sweet,” the Duchess of Sussex said of the Christmas tradition, explaining to New York restaurateur Will Guidara the practice of crossing arms and pulling on the crackers at the same time. “The way that I really started to know them was they would always have almost a fortune cookie size joke or riddle and something sweet."

Meghan and her guest, Guidara, made their own Christmas crackers during the 56-minute special, filling them with dried flowers, confetti, chocolates, and personalized items for each guest, including Meghan’s children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Christmas Crackers are a British tradition dating back to the 1840s, and they are a staple in the Royal Family’s Christmas celebrations at Sandringham. The crackers are generally placed on the dining table at each place setting. "Typically people cross arms and do it,” Meghan explains during the Netflix special.

The original inventor of the British Christmas cracker is Tom Smith, a company that also holds the Royal Warrant as “Suppliers of Christmas Crackers and Wrapping Paper By Appointment to His Majesty The King," a role that the company has held since 1906. The crackers contain small gifts like silver cufflinks, game dice, and even nail clippers along with a paper crown and a paper clip with a joke to read aloud at the table. In fact, it was reported that Queen Elizabeth II was a big fan of the jokes found inside Christmas crackers.