Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997 in a Paris car crash; she was just 36 years old.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, were with their father, Prince Charles, at Balmoral in Scotland when she died.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
It was down to Charles to tell his sons\u2014then just 15 and 12, respectively\u2014the devastating news that Diana did not survive her injuries.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
There is no easy way to tell a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old that their beloved mother has died, and on August 31, 1997, Prince Charles<\/a> was faced with that herculean task following the Paris car crash that took Princess Diana<\/a>\u2019s life at just 36 years old.<\/p>\n Charles, Prince William<\/a>, and Prince Harry<\/a> were at Balmoral in Scotland\u2014the royal family\u2019s traditional late-summer retreat\u2014when Charles got the devastating call. Speaking at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2022, William said, \u201cI was in Balmoral when I was told that my mother had died. Still in shock, I found sanctuary in the service at Crathie Kirk that very morning. And in the dark days of grief that followed, I found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors. As a result, the connection I feel to Scotland will forever run deep.\u201d<\/p>\n Getty<\/p>\n Prince William, Prince Charles, and Prince Harry at Balmoral on August 12, 1997<\/p>\n In the 2017 BBC documentary Diana, 7 Days, William recalled “just feeling completely numb, disoriented, dizzy” upon hearing the news (via People<\/a>).<\/p>\n “You feel very, very confused,” the Prince of Wales said at the time. \u201cAnd you keep asking yourself, \u2018Why me?\u2019 All the time. \u2018Why? What have I done? Why? Why has this happened to us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Charles told William the news first, and Charles then told Harry, which the Duke of Sussex later wrote about in his 2023 memoir Spare. \u201cI remember waiting patiently for Pa to confirm that, indeed, Mummy was all right,\u201d Harry wrote. \u201cAnd I remember him not doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Getty<\/p>\n Prince Charles, Prince Harry, and Prince William at Balmoral in August 1997<\/p>\n The former Prince of Wales told his younger son that Diana \u201cdidn\u2019t make it\u201d: \u201cThese phrases remain in my mind like darts in a board,\u201d Harry added. \u201cHe did say it that way, I know that much for sure. She didn\u2019t make it. And then everything seemed to come to a stop.\u201d<\/p>\n In the Diana, 7 Days documentary from 2017, Harry spoke out for the first time about Charles breaking the news of Diana\u2019s death, saying in the program that \u201cOne of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died. How you deal with that, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n Getty<\/p>\n Prince Charles, Prince Harry, and Prince William in August 1997<\/p>\n Per People<\/a>, he added that Charles \u201cwas there for us\u2014he was the one out of two left, and he tried to do his best and to make sure that we were protected and looked after. But he was going through the same grieving process, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Harry said his initial reaction to his mother\u2019s death was that of \u201cdisbelief\u201d and that he \u201crefused to accept it\u201d: \u201cThere was no sudden outpour of grief,\u201d he continued. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody in that position at that age would be able to understand the concept of what that actually means going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Controversially at the time, the royal family remained at Balmoral in Scotland rather than returning to London. \u201cAt the time, my grandmother [Queen Elizabeth<\/a>] wanted to protect her two grandsons and my father, as well,\u201d William said in the same documentary. \u201cOur grandmother deliberately removed the newspapers and things like that so there was nothing in the house to read.\u201d<\/p>\n Getty Images<\/p>\n Queen Elizabeth in 1995<\/p>\n He added, \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what was going on. Back then there were no smartphones and things like that, so you couldn\u2019t get your news. Thankfully, we had the privacy to mourn and to try to collect our thoughts and have that space away from everybody. We had no idea the reaction to her death would be quite so huge.\u201d<\/p>\n Queen Elizabeth, William continued, \u201cfelt very torn between being the grandmother to William and Harry and her Queen role, and I think everyone was taken aback of what happened and the speed it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Getty<\/p>\n Princess Diana on June 17, 1997 Getty<\/p>\n Prince William, Prince Charles, and Prince Harry at Balmoral<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us were in new territory,\u201d he added. \u201cMy grandmother and father believed we were better served in Balmoral, having the walks and space and the peace to be with the family and not be immersed or having to deal with serious decision or worries straightaway.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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