Prince William faces a difficult milestone next year. August 31 will mark the 30th anniversary since the death of his mother Princess Diana, and there is already speculation as to how he will commemorate the occasion.
It has been widely reported that his younger brother Prince Harry has plans to make a documentary film dedicated to the late Princess.
While nothing has yet been confirmed, it’s said that Netflix is in the running to make the project, and Harry has reportedly already started to reach out to family members and friends connected to Diana for their contributions.
However, Prince William has taken a wholly different view.
Prince William won’t be ‘pitted’ against Harry
According to The Times, the future King will not make a film about his mother, and has declined ‘several offers to make or appear in documentary tributes’.
It is understood that William also wants to avoid a situation where he and Harry, who remain estranged, are “pitted against each other” during film-making.
Friends of William’s told the publication that next year’s anniversary is “a difficult situation for him”, and that he remains “really emotional” about his mother’s death.
The Prince also regards the documentaries he contributed to for the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2017 as his ‘final catharsis’.
How will William mark the anniversary?
It is not known whether William will publicly mark the occasion. But friends believe he is most likely to mark it in private.
For the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2017, William and Harry collaborated on two documentaries about their mother for the BBC and ITV.
© UK Press via Getty ImagesAt a Kensington Palace screening for the ITV documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, William explained why he and Harry considered the film to be their final public word on Diana, telling guests, “We won’t speak as openly about her again.”
During the film, the brothers also described their attempts to deal with their grief.
“There’s not many days that go by that I don’t think of her … My mother lives with me every day,” William said. Harry, meanwhile, recalled how Diana “smothered us with love” and said “there’s a lot of grief that still needs to be let out”.
The brothers’ estrangement
The two siblings are now estranged and were last seen together at the funeral of their uncle, Lord Robert Fellowes, in Snettisham, Norfolk, on August 28, 2024. But they sat on opposite sides of the aisle, kept their distance and reportedly did not speak to each other.
© GettyThey were last seen together publicly at their father’s coronation in May 2023. Despite taking part in the same procession, they were seated separately inside Westminster Abbey; the Duke of Sussex sat two rows behind his brother, alongside his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
The brothers did not make eye contact or speak during the televised service, and Harry left the UK almost immediately afterwards to return to California for his son Archie’s birthday.
‘Granny Diana’
William has spoken about how he keeps the memory of his mother alive for his three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
He has said he often speaks to them about “Granny Diana” to keep her memory alive and “remind them that there are two grandmothers … in their lives and so it’s important that they know who she was and that she existed”.
In March 2021, to mark Mother’s Day, Kensington Palace published cards made by Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis for Diana.
In her card, Charlotte, then five, wrote: “Dear Granny Diana, I am thinking of you on Mother’s Day. I love you very much. Papa is missing you. Lots of love Charlotte xxxxxxxxx.”
George, then seven, wrote: “Dear Granny Diana, Happy, happy mothers day. I love you very much and think of you always, Sending lots of love from George xxxxx.” Little Louis, aged three, painted on a heart shape and added animal stickers.
Read the full article here
