This year marks the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana‘s death, and for the first time her sons, Princes William and Harry, are opening up about their mother and some of her unique qualities.
In Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, which aired on HBO Monday night, William and Harry spoke candidly about their childhood and shared some of their fondest memories of their mother. In an attempt to help the world better understand the late Princess, the brothers revealed some information about their mom that many people wouldn’t know, Redbook Magazine reports.
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In a sneak peek for the documentary, William and Harry shared heartbreaking news about their regrets over their last phone call with Princess Diana. They recounted receiving a phone call from their mother while spending time at the Queen’s Scottish retreat, Balmoral, with their father, Prince Charles.
Up Next: Prince William, Harry Reveal Regrets Over Last Phone Call With Late Mom Princess Diana
“At the time Harry and I were running around minding our own business, you know, playing with our cousins and having a very good time,” William, 35, said.
“The phone rang and off he [William] went to go and speak to her sort of for five minutes,” Harry, 32, remembered.
“I think Harry and I were just in a desperate rush to say goodbye, you know, see you later and we’re going to go off,” William added. “If I’d known now obviously what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have been so blasé about it and everything else. But that phone call sticks in my mind quite, quite heavily.”
“I can’t really necessarily remember what I said, but all I do remember is probably, you know, regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was,” Harry recalled.
Read on to learn more about the late Princess of Wales.
Photo Credit: Getty / Bettmann
William and Harry Remember Their Mother’s Sense of Mischief and Fun
Harry described his mother as a “total kid through and through” and also “one of the naughtiest parents.” One of the mottos she used to live by was, “you can be as naughty as you want, don’t get caught.”
William recounted a similar memory. “She was very informal and really enjoyed the laughter and the fun,” he said. “She had a very cheeky sense of humour… she was very jolly and really enjoyed her time making a lot of mischief. But, she understood that there was a real life outside of palace walls.”
Princess Diana Had Her Embarrassing Mom Moments
One moment that Prince William will never forget is when he came home to find three supermodels at the Kensington Palace when he was just a teenager.
His mother had invited the women over to the house to embarrass him, Harpers Bazaar reports. “She organized when I came home from school to have Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell waiting at the top of the stairs, I was probably a 12 or 13-year-old boy who had posters of them on his wall,” he said.
This is the first time William has commented on his mother’s joke.
“I went bright red, and didn’t know quite what to say and sort of fumbled and I think pretty much fell down the stairs on the way up,” he added. “I was completely and utterly awestruck.”
He remembers the experience very fondly and says, “That was a very funny memory that’s lived with me forever”.
She Gave the Best Hugs
One thing is certain; Princess Diana absolutely loved her sons.
“She would just engulf you and squeeze you as tight as possible…. Even talking about it now, I can feel the hugs that she used to give us, and I miss that, I miss that feeling, I miss having that mother to be able to give you those hugs and give you that compassion that I think everybody needs,” Harry recalled.
Adding to his mother’s loving nature, he said, “It was that love that even if she was on the other side of the room, as a son you could feel it.”
Diana Wanted Her Sons to Have a Normal Childhood
Despite their royal titles, Princess Diana made it her mission to ensure a normal childhood for her sons.
“She prepared us well for life in the best way she could, not obviously knowing what was going to happen,” said William.
Harry remembers his mother made to promise “to ensure that both of us had as normal lives as possible” and remembered her “taking us for a burger every now and then or sneaking us into the cinema, or driving through the country lanes with the roof down on her old-school BMW listening to Enya… all of that was part of her being a mum.”
Princess Diana’s Legacy Will Never Die
Princess Diana’s sons will always work to keep their mother’s memory alive, especially with William’s two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
William says he “constantly” talks about his mom with his kids. “It’s hard because obviously Catherine didn’t know her, so she cannot really provide that – that level of detail,” he revealed. “So, I do [when] regularly putting George or Charlotte to bed, talk about her and just try and remind them that there are two grandmothers, there were two grandmothers in their lives, and so it’s important that they know who she was and that she existed.”
When asked what type of grandmother William thinks Diana would have been, he shared a sweet answer. “She’d love the children to bits, but she’d be an absolute nightmare,” he added. “She’d come and go and she’d come in probably at bath time, cause an amazing amount of scene, bubbles everywhere, bathwater all over the place and – and then leave.”
Photo Credit: Twitter / @enews
