How Diana lives on in the grandchildren she’d have adored
SHE is like her paternal grandmother in so many ways: determined, adventurous, even naughty . . .
The late Diana, Princess of Wales would have adored her granddaughter, Charlotte.
The last time I saw Diana, shortly before she died in 1997, she revealed that she longed for a daughter.
I have no doubt that, if her life had not ended so abruptly, Diana would have remarried — though not to Dodi Fayed — and had more children.
How thrilled she would have been by her three grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and how delighted to know that her own spirit and appearance is manifested in them.
For example, on Charlotte’s second birthday in 2017 she looks at the camera with the reticence of a child not yet accustomed to being the focus of attention. Diana displays a similar lack of ease touring Australia in 1983.
Then, at Louis’ christening earlier this month, Charlotte gives the photographers a sidelong glance reminiscent of ‘Shy Di’ in her bachelor-girl days in 1980. George also shares that slight apprehensiveness with Diana, and his dad Prince William, too. Diana was far more concerned about William than her younger son. Harry grabbed life with both hands, but William hated all the fuss. She would have worried about George in the same way.
Every time I look at George I see his grandmother reflected in him. At Louis’ christening, George was pouting, just as Diana did when she tried to appear interested at formal events.
There is no doubt the Spencer genes have overridden the Windsor looks. George and the young Charles Spencer are uncannily alike with their reddish blond hair and distinctive nose.
It is an abiding sadness that Diana’s grandchildren will never have the joy of knowing her. But these pictures show that they are part of her, just as she is present in all of them.
O INGRID SEWARD is Editor-in-Chief of Majesty magazine and has written four books on Diana and two about William and Harry. Her latest paperback is My Husband & I: The Inside Story Of 70 Years Of The Royal Marriage (Simon & Schuster, €7.99).