-
Princess Diana frequently showed how much she adored her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
-
Diana tried to align her schedule to match the boys’ so she could spend even more time with them.
-
After her death, almost all of Princess Diana’s fortune was left to her two sons.
Princess Diana is remembered as the “people’s princess,” a giving humanitarian, and a loving mother.
Before the Princess of Wales passed away in August 1997, she also aimed to raise her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, as normally as possible, and provide them with a carefree childhood — despite the fact that the eyes of the world were constantly on the family.
In honor of Mother’s Day, here are 11 ways Princess Diana showed she was an amazing mother.
Princess Diana knew she wanted to raise her children to be as “normal” as possible, despite the fact that they were royalty.
Princess Diana took being a mother very seriously and always made an effort to spend time with her sons, William and Harry. From the time they were born, Diana pushed the boundaries of what was expected of the mother of the royal heirs — she chose their own names and breastfed them as infants.
“Most importantly, [my role is] being a mother and a wife. That’s what I try to achieve; whether I do is another thing, but I do try,” Diana said in November 1985.
Princess Diana later said, “I live for my sons. I would be lost without them.”
It wasn’t royal protocol to bring children along on tour, but Diana insisted she bring 9-month-old William on a tour of Australia.
“Diana and Charles bucked the royal trend of separation by taking nine-month-old William, as well as his nanny, with them on the six-week tour to Australia and New Zealand,” royal expert Christopher Warwick told the Northern Echo in 2013, according to USA Today. “William and Harry were very, very fortunate with Diana as a mother because her ideas were so different from the previous generation.”
Princess Diana often spoke about how grateful she was for her family, especially after meeting so many people who didn’t share the same blessings in life.
“I’ve got two very healthy strong boys, and it’s not always the case with the families I’m meeting … and I realize how incredibly lucky I am,” she said in an interview.
Diana tried to align her schedule to match the boys’ so she could spend even more time with them.
Although Diana didn’t work a regular job — she gave up her position as a nursery school teacher when she married Prince Charles — her life was filled with royal duties, events, and obligations.
However, she would reportedly coordinate her schedule to match the boys’ schedule. Like many other royal children, they were partially cared for by nannies.
“In her official calendar, the princess had all the everyday details of her sons’ utterly everyday lives marked in green ink,” Katrine Ames wrote in Newsweek in 1997.
Princess Diana also took her children to school, which was unusual for members of the royal family.
Tradition in the royal family said that royal children were to be educated at home by their governess. However, Princess Diana changed royal education forever when William started at Mrs. Mynors’ nursery in Notting Hill in September 1985.
“I was [a little sad] because it’s opening another chapter in my life and certainly William’s. But he’s ready for it. He’s a very independent child,” Diana told the press after William’s first day at school.
Prince William became the first future royal to be fully educated in the public school system, and Princess Diana would continue to support Prince William and Prince Harry’s education throughout their lives.
Princess Diana was never afraid to be silly around her boys — just like a regular mom.
On a trip to Necker Island in 1990, Princess Diana played in the sand with her sons and their friends, showing that being a royal definitely doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun.
“She understood that there was a real life outside of Palace walls,” William said in a documentary about her life.
“My childhood, I remember, was filled with laughter, filled with happiness, and filled with adventure,” Harry said during an interview in episode one of the Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan.”
In one of Diana’s most famous photographs, she broke royal protocol by throwing her arms around her sons in a massive hug after being apart on holiday.
Prince Harry has since reflected on his mother’s hugs, and what made her so special as a mother.
“She would just engulf you and squeeze you as tight as possible and being as short as I was then, there was no escape, you were there for as long as she wanted to hold you. Even talking about it now, I can feel the hugs that she used to give us,” he said in the documentary “Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy.”
“I miss that feeling, I miss having that mother to give you those hugs and that compassion that everyone needs. Behind closed doors, she was a very loving, caring mother and an incredibly funny person. I think she lived a lot of her life, especially in private, through us and I think that childish fun element really came out when she was spending time with us.”
Princess Diana also kept her boys grounded by taking them on adventurous trips like this ski trip — and fighting off the paparazzi along the way.
During a ski trip with Prince William and Prince Harry in 1991, Diana pleaded with paparazzi to leave her and her family alone while they were enjoying their quiet family vacation and even approached people filming her and her children to ask that they stop.
The princess had also ordered that they would have no bodyguards in attendance, even for the children, to ensure that the vacation would be as “normal” as possible.
However, despite her best efforts, the paparazzi continued to be a constant in her sons’ lives.
“The majority of my memories are of being swarmed by paparazzi,” Harry said in “Harry & Meghan.” “Rarely did we have a holiday without someone with a camera jumping out of a bush or something.”
Princess Diana also let her hair down on a fun trip with William and Harry to Thorpe Park amusement park in 1993.
Even today, it would be considered unusual to see a member of the royal family jetting down a water slide.
However, this was just one reason why Diana was so beloved by her sons and the public — she completely reinvigorated what it meant to be a royal and raising the future ruler of the United Kingdom.
Above all, Princess Diana impressed upon her children to give back and connect with those less fortunate.
“I want my boys to have an understanding of people’s emotions, their insecurities, people’s distress, and their hopes and dreams,” Diana once said in an interview.
Not only did Princess Diana speak with her sons about how privileged they were, but she also brought them along on visits to hospitals and homeless shelters.
“My mother introduced that sort of area to me a long time ago,” Prince William told the Telegraph in 2005. “It was a real eye-opener and I am very glad she did. It has been something I have held close to me for a long time.”
Prince Harry also continued the charitable work his mother did by raising awareness for landmines and the mission of the HALO organization in the region of Angola.
After her death, almost all of Princess Diana’s fortune was left to her two sons.
Prince Harry and Prince William both received a reported $12.5 million from their mother’s estate upon their 30th birthdays, according to The Telegraph.
The Telegraph also reported that William and Harry were each gifted a number of valuable assets from their mother’s estate, including jewelry pieces that have since been worn by Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle, and Princess Diana’s wedding gown.
The remaining inheritance that did not go to William and Harry was dispersed between her butler, Paul Burrell, and her 17 godchildren, The New York Times reported in 1998.
In 2021, Harry told Oprah Winfrey during a CBS interview that he and Meghan Markle would have been unable to move from the UK to California — which they chose to do after deciding to step back from their roles as senior royals — without that inheritance.
“I’ve got what my mum left me and without that, we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” Harry told Winfrey at the time. “She saw it coming, and I certainly felt her presence throughout this whole process.”
Read the original article on Insider