Presents from a princess: the mission to deliver 2.6 million Christmas gifts to soldiers and sailors on the 1914 frontline

Anybody with a passing interest in the first world war will have heard of the “ Princess Mary tin” – a gift from a 17-year-old princess for sailors battling fierce seas and soldiers mired in winter trenches in1914. Among the backdrop of the unofficial truces that were held up and down the line on ChristmasDay 1914, this simple gift has assumed almost mythical proportions. It is a potent symbol of amoment of peace in a deepening war.