Diana’s still blowing cobwebs off the Royals

Harry was just 12 years old on that terrible august day his mother died — the same age my own son is now. and I know from experience what a tender, vulnerable age it can be for a boy; a time of great change and turmoil even in the most stable of families.

No longer a child but not yet a man, there are seismic physical and mental changes under way. One minute they’re asking for cuddles, the next they’re telling you to wait two streets away, and preferably in disguise, so the other children don’t see you picking them up from school.

Boys this age (far more, in my experience, than girls) need the reassurance of a watchful maternal eye as they negotiate the complex and emotionally fraught passage into adulthood.

Poor Harry was deprived of his beloved mother 20 years ago at this pivotal moment in his development, and whatever faults Diana may have had, she was, by all accounts, the most wonderful and intuitive parent.

Instead of her love and encouragement, Harry suddenly found himself without the most important person in his life, and in the bleakest of circumstances.

To make matters worse, he was forced to endure his grief in full view of the world. I will never forget watching in horror as those two boys processed down The Mall behind their mother’s coffin.

EveN though I had no children of my own at that time, I thought it was unforgivable to submit them to such an ordeal — exposing them to all those millions of prying eyes at the precise moment when they should have been protected.

No one who truly loved them would ever have allowed them to be paraded in public like that. Unless, of course, they happened to subscribe to an especially strict doctrine of stiff upper lip.

Perhaps that is why William added to his brother’s revelations this week by calling for an end to that culture of repressed emotions. He and his younger brother have clearly suffered a great deal of pain because of it.

No wonder William said he and Kate were determined to bring up George and Charlotte in a way that encourages them to speak openly about their emotions.

To some this might seem like wishy-washy therapy-speak. It’s certainly not the sort of thing my parents’ generation would have a lot of time for.

But while there is undoubtedly such a thing as emotional overindulgence, afghan veteran Harry is a long way from being the oversensitive snowflake so many other young people seem to be today.

Of course, status, wealth and a fine education have helped cushion the blows that life has thrown at him. But I’m sure Harry would have given up all his privilege in a heartbeat to bring his mother back.

and that is the real joy of the Harry we have seen this week. Because, in a funny kind of way, he has brought her back. The conversation he has engaged in with the nation is the same one that Diana first began when she spoke honestly about her own struggles with bulimia.

and today, we find her still blowing the cobwebs off that most arcane of organisations, the British royal Family.

It is this ability to engage with the public at the most human level that will prove Diana’s legacy.

and Harry, with all his energy and empathy, may turn out to be her greatest achievement of all.