It was during his time at Eton that the shocking event of Princess Diana’s death made headline news worldwide – on the morning of the 31st August 1997.
Princess Diana
Despite internet theories of conspiracy, the sad facts of Diana’s death were that it was a tragic – if perhaps preventable – accident.
The accident is generally accepted to be attributed to the driver, Henry Paul, who was over the drink-drive limit and lost control, and to the motorbike-riding pursuing paparazzi.
At the time, William was staying at Balmoral Castle at the time with his brother, Prince Harry, and his father, Prince Charles. Charles waited until the morning to tell his sons of the accident, to which they must have been devastated.
With Diana and Charles having separated in 1992, and divorced in 1996, the two young princes must have experienced some of the family heartache that children across the world feel when their parents are no longer in love. If one tiny element of positivity could come out of their situation in the early nineties, it would be that William would understand family issues more than a member of an elitist group who would never experience the issues that trouble people across the world. However, for her life to end so tragically short, one cannot begin to imagine the pain and grief this caused to her children, unless, perhaps, one has experienced the same.
A huge, worldwide outpouring of grief was shown at Diana’s death. She had been immensely popular with people from every country across the world. People loved her elegance, intelligence, her work for charity (whether this was highlighting the problem of landmines in former warzones, or being pictured with children suffering from AIDS – at a time when public awareness and understanding of the illness was patchy at best).
Many sites around the world became temporary memorials to Diana, the largest being outside the gates of Kensington Palace.
Although most people felt terrible grief for Diana (the days following her death will be forever remembered as possibly the largest public outpouring of grief in history), for her two sons it must have been terrible.
Princes William and Harry have barely spoken about the time of her mother’s death. Many will remember them walking behind the carriage containing her coffin at her funeral.
However, more than ten years after her death, William accepted the responsibility of royal patron of the Child Bereavement charity (remember, he was only 15 at the time) – a charity to which Diana was closely linked during her lifetime.
William said ‘losing a close family member is one of the hardest experiences anyone can endure. Never being able to say the word ‘Mummy’ again in your life sounds like a small thing. However, for many, including me, it is now really just a word – hollow and evoking only memories.’
It is certain that William’s life has been shaped – to a certain extent – by the tragedy of his mother’s death. He has always said that he will ‘never stop wondering’ about what happened in the tunnel where the car crashed, and one can only hope that – at some point – he will reach a certain nature of closure on the events.
However, it can be assumed that William would from that day onwards have a real aversion to intrusion of the press, a distrust – if not hate – of the paparazzi, or at least those elements who hounded Diana in her last few weeks.
Perhaps some things changed for the better after the events of 1997. For a while, at least, the press would keep to agreements respecting privacy, and across the world regulations came into effect regarding the nature of ‘celebrity’ and some definition given to public and private life.