Exclusive: Princess Diana 'Would Be Shocked' at Prince Harry and Prince William's Ongoing Feud
Diana, Princess of Wales (1961 to 1997), always let it be known to those around her that her sons, Princes William and Harry, "meant the world to her."
Now, with the possible "lifelong rift" that has engulfed her children decades after her death, royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams exclusively tells The Royal Observer that "we know Diana’s legacy," and she "would have been shocked at the way her sons fell out."
"But if she was alive, can you just imagine it…" he adds when highlighting how different her dynamic would be today "in the age of social media…" and how she could use today's tools to help defuse the rift.
This follows Harry's recent exchanges in the media mentioning his mother. "There's evidence to suggest that [my mother] was being hacked in the mid-'90s, probably one of the first people to be hacked," the Duke of Sussex said in the new documentary Tabloids on Trial. "And yet still today, the tabloid press very much enjoys painting her as being paranoid. But she wasn't paranoid."
This allegedly angered the heir to the British throne, as a source claimed: "William is spitting mad that Harry would reference this again," the insider claimed. "He's so fed up with [the Sussexes] cashing in on Diana's death."
In other reports, the Montecito Duke reportedly likes to compare his wife to her late mother-in-law in front of extended family members.
"Harry had introduced Meghan to Diana’s two sisters, Jane and Sarah, and her best friend Julia Samuel," royal author Tom Bower wrote in his book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors. "Harry assumed that Diana’s family and friends would see a similarity between Diana and his fiancée."
The noble Spencer family, headed by Charles, Earl Spencer, is said to frequently side with the Duke of Sussex, who inherited his mother's side of the family's fiery red hair, in matters concerning the ongoing feud between the fifth in line to the throne and the senior royals. But when it came to a Meghan/Diana comparison, the Spencers, which includes the late princess' elder sisters, Lady Sarah and Lady Jane, as well as the Earl, could not come to his defense.
"Both, he said, shared the same problems," Bower added. "He was disappointed. No one agreed that his vulnerable mother had anything in common with his girlfriend. More discomforting for him, they thought Meghan would not fit in with the royal family."
The author continued: "Their unease was voiced by Charles Spencer, Diana’s brother. At William’s request, Spencer weighed in. Three times married, Spencer cautioned his nephew to reconsider his haste towards marriage. His advice provoked a bitter reaction. 'This was going to be really hard,' Harry would later reflect, on establishing Meghan’s place in the family."