DIANA’S prince of hearts
THE FUTURE KING BREAKS WITH ROYAL PROTOCOL TO COMFORT A WOMAN GRIEVING FOR THE LOSS OF HER HUSBAND
It was an extremely moving moment. Overwhelmed by grief, the sobbing woman threw herself at Prince William, burying her face in his chest.
The future king did not flinch. Instead, he tenderly patted Fatima Jafari’s back, consoling the 78-year-old as he heard how her husband Ali Yawra was missing after the Grenfell Tower fire in London.
According to protocol, a firm handshake is usually the extent of physical contact with members of the royal family. But like his late mother Princess Diana, William just can’t help wanting to comfort people when he can.
He was the one who went over to Fatima when he noticed her in floods of tears during a visit he and his grandmother the Queen (91) made to the tower, just days after dozens of lives were lost in the tragic inferno.
He promised the griefstricken woman he would do whatever he could to find her husband, and meant it.
After meeting the royals, Fatima was heard saying, “I am nobody, but the Queen and future King of this country came to see me. They really care.”
“William is very genuine about wanting to help where he can,” says a palace source. “This is why he will make a good king.”
Visits like the one to Grenfell Tower are clearly emotional for William, who has been facing his share of challenges lately. He has given up the job he loved as an air ambulance pilot to focus on his royal duties, and has moved his family from their peaceful and private Norfolk home to Kensington Palace in London.
It’s the 20th anniversary of his mother’s death in two months’ time and many memories, both good and bad, will be dredged up as the occasion is marked.
Meanwhile, intimate details about his parents have been released in Andrew Morton’s new book, Diana: Her True Story – In Her Own Words, which features transcripts of original tapes Diana recorded.
A palace source says hearing some of Diana’s claims – like the fact that she threw herself down a flight of stairs while pregnant with William after a fight with Charles – has been very stressful for the prince.
But he has been able to put aside any personal struggles he is having at present to do his job, recognising that offering support to traumatised people like Fatima is crucial.
The day after the moving visit to Grenfell Tower, William (35) was back in a more familiar setting – on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. Decked out in ceremonial uniform and surrounded by members of his extended family, as well as his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (35), and his children Prince George (3) and Princess Charlotte (2), he watched the fighter plane fly-by that is part of the Trooping the Colour ceremony, held every year to commemorate the Queen’s official birthday.
The scene of everyone dressed in their finery outside the palace is what many people picture when they think about the royal family. It is this pomp and ceremony that makes some question whether the royals are still relevant today.
William knows that to make sure his job as future monarch is secure, he has to continue to win the support of the public as his grandmother has done so successfully.
It helps that he is able to relate to people like Fatima because he lost his mother under tragic circumstances. It is easier for him to know what to say because the pain of her loss is still strong, say those close to the prince.
William admitted in a recent interview that he was in a state of shock over Diana’s death for many years and that he
‘ William knows he has to continue to win the support of the public as his grandmother has’ ‘ William is very genuine about wanting to help where he can. This is why he will make a good king’
probably didn’t grieve properly. “I still haven’t necessarily dealt with that grief as well as I could have done over the years,” he says. He adds he is now better at being able to talk about her, but it has taken a long time to get to this point.
Walking behind his mother’s coffin at her funeral was one of the hardest things he ever did, he says, and although he wanted to cry, he held back the tears.
‘ The outpouring around Diana’s death has changed the British psyche, for the better’
“It was self-preservation,” says William, who was 15 at the time. “I didn’t feel comfortable anyway, having that massive outpouring of emotion around me. I am a very private person and it wasn’t easy. There was a lot of noise, a lot of crying, a lot of wailing, people were throwing stuff, people were fainting. Looking back, the outpouring of grief and emotion was very touching but it was very odd to be in that situation.”
But as difficult as it was, he believes the nationwide grief at her death has gone some way towards lessening the typical British “stiff upper lip” approach and changing the way people in the UK mourn.
For example, he thinks the reaction to the recent deaths of icons such as David Bowie would not have been the same if the nation hadn’t experienced Diana’s death.
“The massive outpouring around her death has really changed the British psyche, for the better,” he asserts.
His experience of grief may help him to comfort those going through traumas like the Grenfell Tower fire and acts of terrorism, but he is upfront when it comes to the saying that time heals.
“It helps you to deal with it better,” he says. “But I don’t think it ever fully heals.”