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| As the 20th anniversary of her death on August 31 approaches, the brothers have opened up for the first time about their mother, her life, and her impact on them and on the causes she championed. |
Two decades on from the death of Princess Diana, her sons Princes
William and Harry are working to keep her legacy alive with unusually emotional
tributes after years of official silence.
William was 15 and Harry 12 when Diana died in a car crash in Paris in
1997.
How deeply their loss affected them is something they have only recently
begun to discuss.
"Twenty years on, Harry and I felt that it was an appropriate time
to open up a bit more about our mother," William said.
"We won't speak as openly or publicly about her again."
The pair featured in a 90-minute programme entitled "Diana, Our
Mother: Her Life and Legacy" broadcast by British channel ITV earlier this
year.
"This is the first time that the two of us have ever spoken about
her as a mother. Arguably, probably a little bit too raw up until this point.
It's still raw," said Harry.
Harry recently revealed that he sought help in the last few years as he
struggled to deal with his suppressed grief.
- Celebrating Diana's life -
In 2007, the princes staged a benefit concert at Wembley Stadium and a
memorial service at which Harry gave a tribute.
But this year marks the first time that the brothers have spoken in such
emotional depth.
In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Harry opened up about the trauma
of having to walk behind his mother's coffin through London for her funeral.
"I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any
circumstances. I don't think it would happen today," he said.
In those tense days 20 years ago, many Britons voiced anger at a
perceived lack of empathy from the royal establishment.
Some feel the royals have been happy to see Diana replaced in the
limelight.
Patrick Jephson, Diana's former private secretary, said the princess had
been airbrushed out.
"There had been a period since her death during which the royal
establishment has been uncertain how to treat the memory of Diana," he said.
"For much of the last two decades she has been the name that cannot
be spoken in royal circles.
"Therefore it is with a note of slight defiance and determination
that her children have said 'no, there's lots of good to remember, let's
celebrate her life'."
- Kensington statue planned -
The brothers have commissioned a statue of Diana which will go in the
public grounds of Kensington Palace, their home which was also their mother's
base.
A garden has been created at the London palace in her honour.
The princes also attended a private service on July 1 to rededicate
their mother's grave at her ancestral home on what would have been her 56th
birthday.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the
world's Anglicans, officiated at the grave, to which the public does not have
access.
In their royal duties, William, 35, and Harry, 32, have also taken up
the baton for their mother's causes.
Diana's visit to a minefield in Angola helped the movement towards the
1997 landmine ban treaty.
In the 1980s, during bedside visits to AIDS patients, she made a point
making physical contact. It was a remarkable gesture at the time that helped
break down the stigma attached to the disease.
Harry's push on landmine clearance and HIV testing are directly aimed at
continuing his mother's campaigns, as is William's work with homeless shelters
and on child bereavement.
Their joint work on mental health which saw Harry reveal his need for
treatment to cope with the trauma of her death also touches a cause Diana
championed.
Harry said the princes wondered what Diana would be doing now where she
still alive.
"There's not a day that William and I don't wish that she was still
around. We wonder what kind of a mother she would be now and what kind of a
public role she would have and what a difference she would be making," he
said.
Jephson said Diana's greatest legacy was her sons themselves.
He said: "We can see in them many of the
attributes that she had principally her ability to combine royalty with the
common touch."
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