The greatest Granny there never was
The late Princess of Wales lives on in the hearts of her grandchildren – and particularly the grandaughters who share her name
Following the announcement that Meghan and Harry’s new daughter, Lili, has been given the middle name Diana, after her late grandmother, Diana’s legacy will now live on not just in the hearts of her children and grandchildren – but also in name.
‘Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honour her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales,’ said Harry and Meghan in a statement.
Lili joins her cousin, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, Kate and William’s daughter, in bearing the name of the granny they will sadly never meet.
And while Lili is still just a baby, it is clear that six-yearold Charlotte has inherited her granny’s cheeky style, sense of humour and million-watt smile.
It must delight her father, William, because is it any wonder her sons want the essence of their mother, the Princess of Wales, to live on? From her down-to-earth approach, to her ability to talk to just about any member of the public, there was no one the ‘People’s Princess’ couldn’t sway.
Diana – whose 1997 car accident in Paris led to her death at 36 – remains one of the most influential people of all time.
It is, of course, a source of sadness for both her boys that their mum will never meet their children. Harry recently melted hearts when he revealed that Archie’s nursery is decorated with pictures of his late granny and that his first phrases included, ‘Grandma Diana’.
William also previously told how he keeps the memory of Diana alive and posted on Instagram the Mother’s Day cards George, Charlotte and Louis had made for the occasion, including one that read, ‘Papa is missing you’.
Judging from how she was as a mother, however, we have some idea of what kind of grandmother she would have been.
The Royals were known for keeping their children at arms’ length, but Diana was eager to change this when she had Prince Charles’ sons. She was, of course, little more than a child herself, only 20 when her first son, William, was born.
Regardless of their Royal status, Diana wanted her boys to have normal experiences outside of the palace’s walls.
She took them to the cinema, McDonald’s, theme parks – and to private meetings with individuals from all walks of life.
As William explained, ‘She
very much wanted to get us to see the rawness of real life. And I can’t thank her enough for that, ’cause reality bites in a big way, and one of the biggest lessons I learned was just how lucky and privileged so many of us are – particularly myself.’
When he was explicitly asked how he imagined Diana’s style as a grandmother, William joked that she would have been ‘an absolute nightmare’.
He said in the documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, ‘She’d come and go and she’d come in probably at bathtime, cause an amazing amount of scene, bubbles everywhere, bathwater all over the place and – then leave.’
On the 10th anniversary of her death in 2007, her youngest son Harry said, ‘ When she was alive, we took for granted her unrivalled love of life, laughter, fun and folly. She was our guardian, friend and protector.’
William also revealed that when he puts his children to bed, he tries to ‘remind them that there are two grandmothers, and so it’s important that they know who she was and that she existed.’
Julia Samuel, who was a close friend of the late Princess and is now Prince George’s godmother, agreed that Diana would have been ‘a fantastic grandmother’.
‘It breaks my heart even thinking about it, because she would have been amazing.’
The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, who was close with Diana as her sister-in-law, agreed: ‘She would have just been the naughtiest, funniest, and the best [grandmother] ever.’
Dickie Arbiter, the former Royal press secretary, poignantly remarked that Charlotte – and now of course Lili – would have had a special place in Diana’s heart for the saddest of reasons.
‘She would have loved being a grandmother and particularly would have doted on Charlotte because she always wanted a daughter and that wasn’t to be.
‘She was great with children and would have been an absolutely brilliant grandmother. ‘She would have been there all the time, she would have spoiled them rotten.’
Let us hope that as they grow, little Charlotte Diana and Lili Diana will remember the woman who would have given them so much love, had tragedy not struck.