Prince Harry and Prince William are reuniting to honor their late mother Diana in July when a statue of the Princess is to be unveiled.
The two brothers’ relationship has been rather icy since the Oprah Winfrey interview, and many wonder how things will be at the reunion. Even so, it looks like the two are putting their differences aside to honor their mother.
Princess Diana passed away under very dramatic circumstances, causing Harry and William to lose their mother. Now, a royal historian has told the story of how Diana made her sons promise her something before her untimely death, and it’s really heartbreaking to look back on that specific promise today.
Princess Diana was loved by many. She became a part of the Royal Family in 1981, after she married Prince Charles. The couple tied the knot in St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and royal faces from several countries were in attendance.
Diana tragically passed away in August of 1997 following a car accident in Paris. For large parts of her royal life, she was hounded by the paparazzi press; it’s not a stretch to say that Diana became the most photographed person in the world.
Princess Diana
Everybody wanted their own little piece of the princess. According to The Guardian, the paparazzi press were offering up to $500,000 for grainy pictures of her.
Her sons, William and Harry, saw both sides of how their mother was treated by the press. Only recently, Harry said that he actually wanted to leave the Royal Family in his early 20s, owing in large parts to how he witnessed his mother being treated before her death.
“Look what it did to my mum, how am I ever going to settle down and have a wife and a family when I know that it’s going to happen again,” Harry explained. “I don’t want to be part of this.”
Besides leading an extremely public life, Princess Diana also had many private problems. One of the biggest involved her husband, Prince Charles.
Just years after wedding Diana, Charles engaged in an affair with Camilla, who would later become his new wife.
Over the years, William and Harry have been two very loving brothers, bonded together through tragedy. Losing their mom at such young ages was an ordeal no one but them will ever truly fathom.
In 2017, on the 20th anniversary of the passing of Princess Diana, the two brothers got together and talked about their mother.
William & Harry honor their mother
Their discussion can only be summed up in one word: Love.
”When everybody says ‘she was funny, give us an example’. All I can hear is her laugh,” Harry explained.
“She was one of the naughtiest parents, she’d come and watch us play football and smuggle sweet into her socks, literally walking back from a football match and having five packages of [candy]. And just, the whole shirt was full with sweets.”
“We felt incredibly loved by her, and I’m very grateful that the love still feels there,” William said. ”It feels like a good time to remember her and hopefully provide a different side.
”It was that love, even though she was on the other side of the room, as her son you could feel it,” Harry added.
Growing up within the Royal Family must be a very special thing. Sure, there will never be a shortage of money, but at the same time, it’s a life of duties and responsibilities.
New Diana letters revealed
Just how much of a ‘normal’ childhood William and Harry had with their mother is hard to tell. But now, an old letter written by Princess Diana has surfaced.
In the letter, we get a very short, but beautiful glimpse of what William and Harry’s childhood was like. Not only that, but also the very special childhood bond between the two.
The letter was written by Diana in March of 1985, just six months after the birth of her youngest son, Harry.
“William adores his little brother and spends the entire time swamping Harry with an endless supply of hugs and kisses, hardly letting the parents near!” Diana’s handwritten letter states, as reported by The Sun.
The letter, written to a former steward at Buckingham Palace, Cyril Dickman, was sold at auction in Cambridge in 2017.
In other letters, Princess Diana revealed how a then-older Prince Harry was “constantly in trouble” at school. Further, she also wrote about the joy of being a mother, as well as describing the “difficult period” in her life that was to follow.
Princess Diana oftentimes took William and Harry to theme parks and other fun venues. But she also knew what royal life entailed, including the fact that they had meals served at all times.
Took William & Harry out for fast food
She knew the importance of William and Harry being just as any other child, even though they were royals. With this in mind, she would sneak them out of the palace to go and get fast food on occasion.
“I remember the princess came into the kitchen one day and said, ‘Cancel lunch for the boys, I’m taking them out, we’re going to McDonald’s,” Diana’s former personal chef Darren McGrady told Marie Claire.
“And I said, ‘Oh my God – your Royal Highness, I can do that, I can do burgers.’ And she said, ‘No, it’s the toy they want.’”
It is clear that William and Harry loved spending time together with their mother. She wanted them to feel like they were just like any other children, and in fact, they were!
At the same time as Diana tried to give her beloved children a wonderful childhood, she also knew that brothers can and will fight with one another from time to time.
Now, royal historian Robert Lacey has revealed new details about Harry and William’s childhood, and how their mother wanted the two brothers to make her a big promise.
In his book Battle of Brothers, Lacey writes about the bond William and Harry developed through their early childhood and into their teenage years.
Harry & William’s promise to Diana
Princess Diana was very keen on them remaining close throughout their lives – she wanted the boys to promise that they’d always remain “best friends”.
In the book, Lacey quotes psychic Simone Simmons, who used to consult Diana.
“You must promise me that you will always be each other’s best friends,” Simmons claimed Diana told her sons. “And never let anyone come between you.”
“Both boys promised they would keep to that,” Simmons recalled. “They high-fived each other and gave their mother a big cuddle.
“‘Anybody would have melted at the sight,’ she said. “Then they went out to play soccer.”
It was clear from the beginning that royal life itself wasn’t the most important thing to Diana. It was, of course, her children, and she wanted to protect them from whatever could come between them.
That even included the Royal Family itself.
Afraid of the Queen taking the boys
One year before her passing, Diana and Prince Charles split. Diana was said to be afraid that the Queen and Charles were plotting to separate her from Harry and William. This comes according biographer Howard Hodgson, author of the 2007 book Charles: The Man Who Will Be King.
“She was well aware that the Queen had the constitutional right and authority under common law to take control of both boys’ care and education,” Hodgson wrote.
“As such she could become the boys’ guardian or even appoint one: this would probably be their father and that might lead to Diana’s exclusion if she finally burned all her bridges with the Royal Family.”
After the split from Prince Charles, Richard Kay said that he felt that Diana was in “quite a good place”. She was starting a new chapter in her life, when suddenly everything was taken away from her and her children.
“She was desperate to try and make a fresh start and do something different, to explore a different kind of Royalty,” Kay said. “And she wanted to come back and see her boys.”
Early next month, William and Harry will reunite in the UK for the unveiling of the statue of their mother Princess Diana, which is set to take place on July 1 in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace.
New Diana statue
That date would have marked Princess Diana’s 60th birthday.
However, the wonderful relation William and Harry had as youngsters is not quite the same anymore. And the question remains if they will continue to honor the promise they gave their mother?
Things are hardly stable following Harry’s most recent trip to the UK for Prince Philip’s funeral. The Prince – at odds with his family over the claims he and Meghan Markle made to Oprah Winfrey – was said to have been “shocked” by the ice cold reception from his family upon his initial return.
Latest reports states that Harry attend his mother’s statue unveiling, though Meghan Markle won’t be there. Instead, she will stay in the couple’s Montecito home to take care of their newborn baby, as reported by Harper’s Bazaar.
The statue unveiling is a wonderful moment for the two brothers to reunite.
But according to The Sun, Charles – who was married to Diana – doesn’t want anything to do with it. The news outlet reports that Charles won’t be attending the statue unveiling of his late former wife, but instead will remain at his Scottish estate, Balmoral.
‘Charles will not be around’
“Charles has made it quite clear he will not be around … because he is going to Scotland,” a source told the UK paper.
“There is no planned meeting between the three of them.”
Another source told The Sun that William and Harry will make separate speeches during the statue unveiling.
“The boys will walk out together out of respect for their mom,” the insider claimed. “There have not been any personal chats or proper talks, just a very brief and minimal exchange of text messages.
“The relationship is still very much strained and there’s no sign yet that there will be any sort of coming together any time soon,” the insider added.
Hopefully, the unveiling of Diana’s statue will be a wonderful time for Harry and William to make amends, and at the same time, honor their mother. We really hope they can fulfill Diana’s dream of them forever being best friends. Because in the end, family and love is all that matters.
What do you think will happen? Will Harry and William be back to being best friends? Leave your opinion in the comment section.
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