NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n
Princess Diana<\/a> continues to be an enduring force in the lives of her sons, Prince William<\/a> and Prince Harry<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Despite her death in 1997, Patrick Jephson, Diana’s former private secretary, exclusively tells PEOPLE how the late Princess of Wales is continuing to lead her children.\n<\/p>\n “If they study Princess Diana\u2019s life carefully \u2014 and I hope they often do \u2014 William, Harry and their advisers will know that she left them many good examples to follow and also a few important warnings to heed. Public affection and the rich rewards of royalty must be earned with self-sacrifice and service,” says Jephson.\n<\/p>\n “I\u2019m sure they are grateful that every day she can still guide, comfort and inspire them along the difficult path they were born to follow,” adds the author of Shadows of a Princess: An Intimate Account by Her Private Secretary<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n Princess Diana and Patrick Jephson at the Burghley Horse Trials on Sept. 10, 1989.<\/p>\n Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty<\/p>\n Prince William and Prince Harry were 15 and 12, respectively, when Diana died following a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997, changing their lives forever.\n<\/p>\n The brothers grew up sharing a royal life and experience only they can understand, but the Prince of Wales, 43, and Duke of Sussex, 40, are today distanced by a bitter rift that shows no signs of healing.\n<\/p>\n Fractures exacerbated in 2020 when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle<\/a> stepped back from royal duties, and the turmoil has played out in the public eye since.\n<\/p>\n “Things were said that sparked the initial rift, and it\u2019s never healed,” says Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton in this week’s PEOPLE cover story.\n<\/p>\n Prince William and Prince Harry walk behind Queen Elizabeth’s coffin on Sept. 14, 2022. In his groundbreaking memoir Spare, Harry describes a tense 2019 confrontation<\/a> where William criticized Meghan and, according to Harry, physically grabbed him by the collar, knocking him to the floor.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The divide deepened after the couple\u2019s explosive interview in 2021 with Oprah Winfrey<\/a>, followed by their Netflix docuseries and Prince Harry\u2019s bestselling book \u2014 each delivering sharp criticism of Prince William, King Charles<\/a>, Kate Middleton<\/a>, Queen Camilla<\/a> and the institution they serve.\n<\/p>\n “Some members of my family will never forgive me<\/a>,” Harry told BBC News<\/a> in May.\n<\/p>\n Says Robert Lacey, author of Battle of Brothers<\/a>: “The rift is very profound and very long-lasting. It will not be changed, in my opinion, until Harry makes a move and apologizes.”\n<\/p>\n Adds historian Amanda Foreman: “Everyone wants it to happen on their terms, but that\u2019s what makes it impossible.”\n<\/p>\n PEOPLE Magazine, Aug. 25, 2025.<\/p>\n Despite the gulf between them, Princess Diana’s sons remain united in a shared vow to honor her memory.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Long before their estrangement, Diana taught William and Harry what that legacy looked like: a new kind of royal life rooted not in pomp but in compassion.\u00a0Diana didn\u2019t just infuse their lives with normalcy through visits to amusement parks and burger joints; she also took them to shelters for the unhoused and introduced them to her key causes.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Prince William has taken inspiration in his work to help the homeless<\/a>, while Prince Harry has carried her torch in supporting those affected by AIDS<\/a> and retraced her steps<\/a> through Angolan minefields with The HALO Trust.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Tessy Ojo, CEO of The Diana Award<\/a> \u2014 the only charity to bear Princess Diana’s name, and one that her sons now support separately<\/a> \u2014 has witnessed the princes\u2019 commitment firsthand.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n “I\u2019ve seen how they watch young people who never met their mother articulate the impact she\u2019s had on them. There is a sense of immense pride: ‘Wow, my mother did that!’ ” Ojo says.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Princess Diana, Prince Harry and Prince William at the commemorations recognizing the 50th anniversary of VJ Day in London in September 1994. Can’t get enough of PEOPLE’s Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter<\/a> to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Both brothers have also created home lives grounded in the value of providing their children with a genuinely authentic upbringing \u2014 “and that is pure Diana<\/a>,” says Foreman. Prince William and Prince Harry have also honored their mother by giving their daughters, Princess Charlotte<\/a> and Princess Lilibet<\/a>, her name as a middle name.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex both speak of her often to their children, and her photograph is displayed throughout their homes.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n “The values they are instilling and discussing as families may be their best success,” Foreman says about the King’s sons. “They are both very good role models as parents.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Princess Diana left Prince William and Prince Harry with both “good examples” and “important warnings,”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[5105,7710,519,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-347272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-royal","9":"tag-royal-families","10":"tag-royal-family","11":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115034393577132795","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHenry Nicholls – Pool\/Getty<\/p>\n
\nAntony Jones\/Julian Parker\/UK Press via Getty Images<\/p>\n