Inside the Exceptionally Long Reach of Princess Diana’s Short Life

For as long as she was around, Diana wanted her sons to be 1,000 percent sure that they were loved, but she also didn’t want them to have any illusions about their lives—or about life, in general.

“When I grow up I want to be a policeman and look after you, Mummy,” a young William is said to have told her, to which Harry quickly countered with, “Oh no, you can’t. You’ve got to be king.”

Diana explained that she had altered her approach to raising William, born second in line to the throne, “in a subtle way. People aren’t aware of it, but I am. I would never rattle their cage, the monarchy, because when I think the mother-in-law has been doing it for 40 years who am I to come along and change it just like that? But through William learning what I do, and his father to a certain extent, he has got an insight into what’s coming his way. He’s not hidden upstairs with the governess.”

In fact, Diana was subtly raising William to succeed the queen, saying, “If I was able to write my own script I’d say that I would hope that my husband would go off, go away with his lady and sort that out and leave me and the children to carry the Wales name through to the time William ascends the throne. And I’d be behind them all the way and I can do this job so much better on my own; I don’t feel trapped.”