We have all felt nothing but empathy for Princes William and Harry, who lost their mum Princess Diana in 1997 at the tender ages of just 15 and 13, respectively. It has only been in more recent years that the brothers have spoken publicly about that difficult time in their lives, with Prince William revealing that losing a close family member is “one of the hardest experiences that anyone can ever endure”.
“Never being able to say the word ‘Mummy’ again in your life sounds like a small thing. I too have felt — and still feel — the emptiness on such a day as Mother’s Day.”
Now an anecdote from a book published in 2000 by the Princess of Wales’ butler, Paul Burrell, has resurfaced, reminding us all of the tender relationship between mother and sons.
In the book, A Royal Duty, Burrell reveals just how difficult Princess Diana found her divorce from Prince Charles. Prince Charles had insisted that she give up her title, Her Royal Highness. While the loss of title did not upset her, it would mean that she would have to curtsy to the royal family, including her sons.
Prince William had empathised with his mum’s “distress” and according to Burrell, promised to rectify the situation when he became King.
Burrell is quoted: “[Diana] told me how [William] had sat with her one night when she was upset over the loss of HRH, put his arms around her and said, ‘Don’t worry, Mummy. I will give it back to you one day when I am King’.”
A year after Prince Charles and Diana’s divorce was finalised, Diana was killed in a car accident in a Parisian tunnel. Her son never got to carry out his promise.