TV Di doc reveals princes’ regrets
THE Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry have revealed their last conversation with their mother was a brief phone call on the day she died that now weighs “heavily” on William’s mind.
In a documentary about Diana, Princess of Wales, William and Harry speak of the remorse they feel at how short their final chat with their mum was, with Harry confessing it is something he will regret “for the rest of my life”.
But looking back at the life of the princess, whose death 20 years ago shocked the world, Harry said “to myself and William she was just the best mother ever” who “brought a breath of fresh air to everything she did”.
In the programme that chronicles Diana’s personal journey, her campaigns supporting the homeless, Aids victims, and banning landmines, and her death, Harry says he has only cried twice for his mother – once at her funeral, and during Harry and William reveal previously unseen pictures in tomorrow’s programme an undisclosed occasion. William was 15 years old and Harry just 12 when their mother was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
On the day she died, William described the “very good time” they were having at Balmoral, the Queen’s private Scottish home, where the royal brothers were playing with their cousins.
William, interviewed with his brother at Kensington Place for the ITV documentary, said: “Harry and I were in a desperate rush to say goodbye, you know ‘see you later’ – if I’d known now, obviously, what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have been so blasé about it and everything else.
“But that phone call sticks in my mind, quite heavily.”
Asked if he remembers what his mother said he replies “I do” but does not divulge the conversation.
Harry described how it was his turn to chat to mum after his brother: “It was her speaking from Paris, I can’t really necessarily remember what I said but all I do remember is probably regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was.”
Unseen family photos of the royal brothers taken by their mother are shown in the programme, with William and Harry seen trawling through the albums compiled by Diana.
Harry admits “part of him” did not want to look at them but he was also waiting for the right time to sit down with his brother and go through the pictures.
Speaking ahead of the programme tomorrow, William said: “We won’t be doing this again – we won’t speak as openly or publicly about her again, because we feel hopefully this film will provide the other side from close family and friends you might not have heard before, from those who knew her best and from those who want to protect her memory.”