Nearly three decades after the death of Princess Diana, the estrangement of her beloved children are the focus of a new investigation by PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story.
Princess Diana had always been steadfast in professing that her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, should always remain close and be there for one another. Sadly, her vision for the future is not how things stand in 2025.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are raising their three children in Windsor with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s two children are growing up in Montecito, California.
Aside from the geographical distance, the two brothers do not appear to have a relationship.
“Diana always used to say she had two boys for a reason — the younger would be there to support the older in the lonely task as future king,” Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton told PEOPLE.
“There is no doubt Diana would have tried to act as a peacemaker between them,” says Morton, whose latest book, “Winston and the Windsors,” is out in October. “If she had been around, they would have worked things out in a different way.”
It’s now been nearly 28 years to the day since Princess Diana’s passing on Aug. 31, 1997, and brothers William and Harry continue to be devoted to their mother.
However, they’re still estranged and it appears as though reconciliation is not on the horizon, the story on people.com goes on to explain.
The Prince of Wales, age 43, and the Duke of Sussex, 40, grew up sharing the spotlight as integral part of the royal family — something they lived on a daily basis — especially during the time of their parents’ scandalous divorce, and enduring the insurmountable pain of losing their mother to a car crash in Paris when they were only 15 and 12 years old.
Their estrangement was exposed back in 2020 when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex opted to withdraw from royal duties and royal life.
“Things were said that sparked the initial rift, and it’s never healed,” says Morton.
But throughout all of their differences, the siblings still share a common bond and are united as they continue to honor their mother’s memory.
William has followed her lead in his work to help the homeless, continuing with a cause Diana had introduced to her boys early on, and Harry supports young people affected by AIDS in Southern Africa.
“This is the sadness of it — they aren’t supporting each other like they should be,” says a source close to the royal household. “That’s what any mother would want — that they are there for each other.”
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