In what royal watchers are already calling the most explosive incident inside Buckingham Palace this year, Queen Camilla is said to have flown into a blinding rage and deliberately destroyed a lavish Barbie doll gifted to Princess Charlotte by her grandfather, King Charles III. Palace insiders claim the dramatic scene unfolded just days before Christmas, leaving staff stunned and the little princess heartbroken.

The gift in question was no ordinary toy. According to those who saw it, King Charles had personally commissioned a one-of-a-kind collector’s Barbie, dressed in an exquisite miniature recreation of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s 1953 Coronation gown, complete with a tiny diamond-like crown and a velvet robe trimmed in faux ermine. The doll even came in a custom display box engraved with Charlotte’s name and the words “To my darling granddaughter, with love from Grandpa Wales.” Sources say the King spent weeks working with the renowned British toymaker to ensure every detail was perfect, intending it as the centerpiece of Charlotte’s Christmas morning.

But the heartwarming gesture apparently triggered something dark in Camilla.

Eyewitnesses whisper that the Queen Consort stumbled upon the wrapped package in a private sitting room while staff were arranging gifts under the tree. Upon seeing the label “For Princess Charlotte, from Grandpa,” and reportedly recognizing the distinctive coronations-themed wrapping, Camilla allegedly demanded to know what it was. When a nervous footman explained it was the special Barbie from His Majesty, her reaction was instantaneous and terrifying.

“She went white, then red,” one source claims. “She snatched the box, tore off the paper like a wild animal, and when she saw the doll dressed as the late Queen, she let out this awful sound, half laugh, half scream, and slammed it onto the marble floor.”

Staff reportedly watched in horror as Camilla allegedly stomped on the doll repeatedly, cracking the porcelain face and snapping the tiny crown in two. She is then said to have ripped the coronation robe from the broken figure and hurled the remains into the roaring fireplace, muttering words that shocked even the most seasoned courtiers.

What drove her to such fury?

Royal observers point to a long-simmering tension. The doll, dressed as Queen Elizabeth II in her defining moment of glory, was seen by many as Charles quietly honoring his mother’s legacy, and by extension, reminding everyone that Camilla will never wear that particular mantle in the same way. Some whisper that seeing Charlotte, the only little princess in direct line to the throne, receiving such a symbolically loaded gift while Camilla herself has spent years carefully navigating her image as the “wicked stepmother” figure, was simply too much.

Others suggest a more personal trigger. “Camilla has never forgiven the late Queen for the way she was treated in the press during the Diana years,” claims one longtime palace employee. “Seeing that coronation dress in miniature, given so lovingly to William and Catherine’s daughter, might have felt like history rubbing salt in an old wound.”

The fallout was immediate. Princess Charlotte, who had been told by her excited grandfather that she would receive “something very special that once belonged to Gan-Gan,” reportedly burst into tears when she learned her Barbie had been “broken by accident.” Prince William and Princess Catherine are said to be absolutely livid, with one source claiming William confronted his father in a heated exchange that ended with the Prince of Wales declaring, “This stops now.”

King Charles, ever the peacemaker, has apparently tried to smooth things over by promising Charlotte an even grander replacement doll after Christmas, but the damage is done. Palace staff say the atmosphere at Sandringham this festive season is frostier than the Norfolk winds.

Perhaps most telling is Camilla’s reaction when later asked about the incident by a senior aide. According to those present, she simply smiled thinly and said, “Some toys are simply not appropriate for little girls who might get the wrong idea about who wears the real crown.”

As the Wales children grow up in the shadow of a complicated family history, incidents like this lay bare the raw emotions still bubbling beneath the polished surface of the modern monarchy. One thing is certain: Princess Charlotte’s destroyed coronation Barbie will go down as the most talked-about broken doll in royal history, and the cracks it revealed in the House of Windsor may take far longer to repair than any porcelain face ever could.

For now, the palace remains tight-lipped, releasing only a bland statement about “an unfortunate accident with a decorative item.” But behind the gilded doors, they say you can still smell the faint scent of scorched velvet, and somewhere, a little girl wonders why her very special present from Grandpa had to disappear in flames.