Prince William and Prince Harry are on vastly different paths in life, with one, the Prince of Wales, destined to become King, and the other, the Duke of Sussex, carving out his life across the pond in California. Although their journeys differ, the brothers have followed — at times literally — in the footsteps of their late mother Princess Diana, while forging their own legacies.
William retraced his mother’s steps during his first official visit to Brazil in November 2025, which saw him address world leaders at COP30 on behalf of the King and undertake a variety of engagements related to the environment. Images of the Prince at the Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro evoked memories of his mom Diana, who visited the iconic statue during her visit in 1991.
The Prince traveled to Brazil for the fifth annual Earthshot Prize Awards. The prestigious environmental award, founded by William to incentivize change and help repair our planet over 10 years, will no doubt become part of the future King’s legacy. While the prize was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” — a challenge to land a man on the moon within a decade — there is another area of William’s work that can be traced back to Diana: his commitment to tackling homelessness. When he was young, the Prince’s mother would take him to homelessness charities in London. The Prince first visited The Passage in 1993 with his mom, which he later admitted opened his “eyes to some of the challenges that face people in all walks of life.”
© Chris Jackson/Getty Images/Ken Goff/Getty ImagesPrince William in 2025 and Princess Diana in 1991
William’s since become Royal Patron of The Passage and patron of the youth homelessness charity Centrepoint — a role his mother once held. In 2023, the Prince went on to launch Homewards, a five-year program that aims to show it’s possible to end homelessness.
William has said that he draws inspiration and guidance from his mom’s example. “I’ve slowly tried to work out what can I bring to the role and the platform that I have. I have taken some inspiration and guidance from what my mother did particularly with homelessness,” he shared in ITV’s Prince William: We Can End Homelessness documentary.
© Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty ImagesThe brothers keep their mother’s legacy alive through their work
At the Diana Award’s 25th anniversary event in 2024, William shared how his mother taught him “that everyone has the potential to give something back.” “That everyone in need deserves a supporting hand in life. That legacy is something that both Catherine and I have sought to focus on through our work,” he said, referencing his wife, the Princess of Wales.
Diana’s work, which her younger son Harry has called “unfinished,” is something that the Duke feels “obligated to try and continue that as much as possible.” While discussing his work to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in 2022, Harry told American morning program GMA: “I could never fill her shoes, especially in this particular space because of what she did and what she stood for and how vocal she was about this issue.”
Harry also co-founded the charity Sentebale, meaning “forget-me-not”, alongside Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in honor of their respective mothers in 2006; both resigned as patrons in 2025 amid an internal dispute.
© Samir Hussein/WireImage/Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty ImagesPrince Harry in Angola in 2019 and Diana in 1997
The Duke, who stepped back from royal duties in 2020, has also continued his late mother’s support for the HALO Trust, a charity that helps to clear explosives. In 2019 and 2025, Harry visited Angola, where he walked through a minefield, echoing Diana’s 1997 walk in the same country.
“The Halo Trust work in Angola meant a great deal to my mother,” Harry said in 2024. “Carrying on her legacy is a responsibility that I take incredibly seriously.”
The Duke has previously expressed his hope that a lot of his “mother’s talents are shown in a lot of the work that” he does. Harry told Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts in 2016: “We will do everything we can to make sure that she’s never forgotten and carry on all of the special gifts, as such, that she had and that she portrayed while she was alive.”
Although Prince William and Prince Harry are charting their own courses on different continents these days, it certainly seems that the brothers are carrying on their mother’s legacy in the directions they are each heading.
“As they’ve grown older, both brothers have done their bit to keep her legacy alive – though their work and through their family lives,” HELLO!’s Royal Editor Emily Nash says. “They have both sought to show their children live beyond palace walls, just as she did.”
Diana’s presence in her sons’ respective proposals
While Diana couldn’t meet her future daughters-in-law, her two sons made sure that she was part of the new chapters they were about to begin when they proposed. Prince William got down on one knee in 2010 with his late mother’s diamond and sapphire engagement ring. “It’s my mother’s engagement ring so of course it’s very special to me, as Kate’s very special to me now as well,” the Prince of Wales said in his and Catherine’s 2010 engagement interview. “It was only right the two [were] put together, but it was my way of making sure my mother didn’t miss out on today and the excitement and the fact that we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together.”
Prince Harry also drew from his mother’s jewelry collection for Meghan Markle‘s engagement ring. The Duke of Sussex designed the ring using two diamonds from Diana’s collection. In his and Meghan’s 2017 engagement interview, Harry revealed: “The ring is obviously yellow gold because that’s her favorite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the little diamonds, either side, are from my mother’s jewelry collection to make sure that she’s with us on this crazy journey together.”
Diana’s grandchildren
William has spoken in the past about “constantly talking about Granny Diana” to keep his late mother’s memory alive for his children. “We’ve got more photos up around the house now of her and we talk about her a bit and stuff,” the Prince shared in the 2017 documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy. “It’s hard, because obviously Catherine didn’t know her, so she cannot really provide that level of detail, so I do, regularly putting George and 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.”
For Mother’s Day in 2021, Kensington Palace released cards that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis made for their paternal grandmother. “Dear Granny Diana,” Charlotte sweetly wrote on her card. “I am thinking of you on Mother’s Day. I love you very much. Papa is missing you. Lots of love Charlotte.” Meanwhile, George, who is Diana’s eldest grandchild, wrote: “Dear Granny Diana, Happy Happy Mother’s Day. I love you very much and think of you always. Sending lots of love from Georgexxxxx.”
Like his older brother, Prince Harry, who is a father to Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, talks about his late mom at home. The Duke told Hoda Kotb in 2022 that he tells his son about “Grandma Diana” and has photos up in the house. It was revealed in Apple TV+’s The Me You Can’t See that Harry had a photo of his mom in Archie’s room. “I’ve got a photo up in his nursery and it was one of the first words that he said, apart from ‘mama,’ ‘papa,’ it was then ‘grandma'”, the Duke shared, adding: “It’s the sweetest thing, but at the same time, it makes me really sad because she should be here.”