TERROR ALERT
Diana memory haunts prince
PRINCEPRINC William has had a tough few days. His public image has been dented by his antics on a lads’ skis break and for failing to attend the CommonwealthComm Day Observance.
The Then, amid of the wave criticism and accusations of laziness,laz for the first time officially he visited Paris, the city where his mother died in 1997.
Eve Even William’s harshest critic must have felt some sympathysympa for him having to visit the La VilleLumièreLumiè (the so called city of light) where the light of his life, his mother, was tragically snuffed out.
For years after her death he put on a brave public face despited his anger and deep sense of loss. He confided:confid “Never being able to say the word ‘Mummy’‘Mum again in your life sounds like a small thing. For many, including me, it’s now really just a word – hollow and evoking only memories.”
Aplomb
He thinks of her daily, which must have inspired his relentless,re almost obsessive, battle for privacy for hishi wife Kate and his young children.
He was in Paris to stress that Britain will maintain close ties with France in the wake of Brexit.
WilliamWil delivered the message with aplomb, with his immaculateim wife at his side.
UntilUnt now The Queen has cut him some slack. But secondsecon in line to the throne William is about to end his “other”“job as an air ambulance pilot and to be a full-timeful royal. More will be expected of him.
TheTh partying in Verbier was a PR own-goal but not a fatal blow to his image. William has probably more than 50 years of royal duty ahead of him. The time forf him to knuckle down is not later but now.
As WilliamW and Kate carried out the last of their public engagements, a few miles away people were payingpayin respects to Diana at the Flame of Liberty – a full-sized,full-si gold-leaf-covered replica of the Statue of LibertyLibert torch. It stands above the Alma Tunnel, where Diana died. People stood quietly looking at photosphoto of Diana. Her legacy clearly lives on but, as WilliamWillia is discovering, she is a tough act to follow.
RobertRob Jobson is a New York Times bestselling author.autho His latest book, The Future Royal Family, is publishedpublis by John Blake.