The episode opens on a "delightful, busy day" with the Admiral cleaning a toy boat, the Maid beating a rug, the General combing Nessie, the Prime Minister reciting a speech, and the Gardener washing his marrows. The narrator observes that these people appear to be preparing for something and wonders if the Princess is also.
She is in the garden shed and the narrator asks if she is playing hide and seek. The Princess says, "No, just hide". Then, the King finds her. The Princess accuses the narrator of giving her away, so he apologises, and then the King comes up. He tells her to get ready because an unidentified "she" will be there soon.
The Princess sits on her bed in a bad mood, so the narrator asks what's wrong. She replies that her great-auntie is visiting and when the narrator points out that the Princess doesn't seem too happy about it, she replies, "I'm not: she's funny." She then lists the reasons for disliking her great-auntie: she wears "big, baggy, grey tights that are all lumpy", has dentures (which the Princess calls "borrowed teeth"), and worst of all, she wants to kiss her and the Princess apparently remembers being kissed by her as a baby and not liking her hairy chin.
The Maid arrives and has the Princess take a bath, while the Princess complains. The Maid tries to convince the Princess that her great-auntie is a "lovely old woman" and deserves to be liked since she likes the Princess, and that the Princess won't "catch anything nasty".
This gives her the idea of drawing spots on her face to pretend to be sick and thus contagious. The doctor pretends to fall for it, but gets her to own up by citing the cure as a liquid that "tastes like sweaty old socks" that's to be taken in two spoonfuls eight times a day. The Princess wipes her face clean and pretends to have recovered, making everyone suspicious.
The scene cuts to the Princess up a tree, with a ribbon around her waist and red shoes on. The narrator compliments these accessories, but she blows a raspberry at him. Then, the Prime Minister starts to recite his speech, comparing Great-Aunty to sunshine, but Princess denies that Great-Auntie is like sunshine and says she is like a rainy day, and again refuses to kiss her.
Soon, the grownups are in the hallway. The Chef has one of his giant jellos, the Gardener has a marrow, the General has gussied up Nessie, and the Prime Minister has some flowers. However, the Princess is unaccounted for. They search, but they don't find her and to add insult to injury, Puss bumps into the Chef making him spill his jello, the Gardener drops his marrow into a mud puddle and doesn't wash it off, the General falls into a bush with Nessie, and the Prime Minister and Admiral fall into the pond, soaking the flowers and covering them both with pond weed. The Princess hides under the King and Queen's bed while the Queen cries, and then she and the King leave.
Then, Great-Aunty arrives. The adults try to come up with a reason for the Princess's absence, but then she arrives. The Princess reluctantly lets Great-Aunty kiss her and finds that her chin isn't hairy after all, but is "tickly". This worries the other adults, but Great-Auntie takes it as a compliment. The King then kisses the Queen, the General tries to kiss the maid but accidentally kisses the Prime Minister, and Puss kisses Scruff.
Great-Auntie then shows Princess her teddy bear, who is also named Gilbert, a.k.a. "Great Gilbert", and the Princess shows her around the castle. Great-Aunty slips and her dentures fall out, then the Princess catches them and runs off with them, prompting a chase.
This episode provides examples of
- Acciental Kiss: The General tries to kiss the Maid but instead kisses the Prime Minister.
- Affection-Hating Kid: Zigzagged. The Princess doesn't want Great-Aunty to kiss her... but it's because of her hairy chin... yet she does say, "I'm not going to kiss anyone ever, at all!"... and then immediately apologises and kisses... Gilbert... she still doesn't want Great-Auntie to kiss her though... but when she does, she enjoys it.
- Ambiguous Situation: During the "faking sick" scene, it's unclear whether the King and Queen truly believe the Princess really is sick or if they, along with the doctor, are just pretending to go along with it.
- Batman Gambit: The doctor tricks the Princess into ceasing to fake illness by claiming that the only cure is to take a medicine that tastes of sweaty socks eight times a day.
- Blatant Lies:
- When the narrator asks if the Princess is under the bed, she denies it. She seems to realise the blatancy of this lie, since she instantly tells the truth afterwards.
- When the adults are lying about where the Princess is, the Admiral says that she's in the navy.
- Blowing a Raspberry: When the Princess is up a tree, sulking about the situation, she blows a raspberry at the narrator.
- Continuity Nod: When the Princess is fancied up, she wears the eponymous shoes from "I Want My New Shoes".
- Dramatic Irony: The Princess hides under the King and Queen's bed and just before she comes out, we know she's there but they don't.
- Grossout Fakeout: The Princess has the mistaken impression that Great-Aunty's dentures are "borrowed".
- Gross Up Closeup: At one point, we get a closeup of Great-Aunty's mouth making kissy lips.
- Faux Horrific: The Gardener shouts, "OH no!" when he drops a marrow into mud, even though it didn't break and so he could always wash the mud off.
- If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: The doctor pretends that her medicine is the cure for the Princess's fake disease but tastes of "sweaty old socks".
- Improbable Age: Discussed when the Admiral lies that the Princess is in the navy.
- Insult Backfire: A minor one. The Maid says that "you won't get a nice big kissie from your great-auntie with a dirty face like that", which is a bit rude but not strictly an insult. The Princess replies, "Good!".
- Limited Wardrobe: Pointed out when the Princess says that Great-Aunty wears baggy grey tights all the time.
- No Infantile Amnesia: The Princess can apparently remember Great-Aunty kissing her when the former was a baby.
- No Name Given: While this is played straight for most of the characters, this is exaggerated for Great-Aunty, who is called that even by the Prime Minister, who is clearly too old to be her great-nephew and isn't related to the Princess.
- The Perfectionist: The Queen cries and says, "And I wanted everything to be so perfect!" at one point.
- Platonic Kissing:
- Great-Auntie kisses the Princess. Justified as they're related.
- Zigzagged for the General trying to kiss the Maid. They're best friends but he seems to have a one-sided crush on her judging by how he addresses her.
- Puss kisses Scruff.
- Playing Sick: The Princess pretends to have a disease called "warble dots" so that Great-Aunty can't come to visit. However, the doctor makes her stop.
- Plot Hole: The Princess doesn't know about "Great Gilbert" despite having met him in "I Don't Want to Leave Home".
- Polka-Dot Disease: The Princess fakes a disease called "warble dots" by drawing green spots on herself with a pen.
- Pun: After her bath, the Princess angrily puns, "But she's not a great-auntie! She's not 'great' at all!".
- Rain, Rain, Go Away: Discussed when the Princess says that Great-Aunty is like a rainy day in that they're both annoying.
- Ship Tease: It's implied that the Prime Minister might have a crush on Great-Aunty, since he feels awkward when he calls her a "wonderful woman" and messes up his words when greeting her.
- Stereo Fibbing: When the adults are asked where the Princess is, they say that she's in the bath (Maid), kitchen (Chef), cabbage patch (Gardener) and navy (Admiral).
- Tastes Like Feet: Downplayed. The medicine is said to taste like "sweaty old socks", and while most people have chewed on fabric and know sweat is salty, they hopefully don't know exactly what sweaty old socks taste like.
- You Don't Want to Catch This: The Princess pretends she has a made-up disease so that the adults will think she's contagious and thus won't make her kiss Great-Aunty.
