Princess Diana’s dedication as a parent has been well-documented. For instance, according to a new royal biography, the former Princess of Wales previously shared her belief that her eldest son, Prince William, was “wise beyond his years.” In the same volume, a declaration Diana once made about parenting was shared by one of her friends.
In Russell Myers’s new book, William and Catherine: The Monarchy’s New Era: The Inside Story, the royal expert shared that Princess Diana and King Charles’s royal tour of Australia in 1983 exposed some crucial differences between the pair. Notably, when Charles and Diana embarked on the tour between March and April 1983, Prince William was yet to celebrate his first birthday—the prince was born on June 21, 1982.
“Despite their tentative closeness, Charles had been angered by Diana’s refusal to toe the party line and leave William behind, just as he had been left behind when his own mother went on royal tours,” Myers wrote. “In Diana’s eyes, this wasn’t consistent with his description of his unhappy childhood, and was at odds with his ambition to create a different future for his children.”
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“Charles had been angered by Diana’s refusal to toe the party line and leave William behind.”
(Image credit: John Shelley Collection/Avalon/Getty Images)
As a result, Diana reportedly refused to leave Prince William at home, and made sure the young royal accompanied her on the trip.
“Diana, for one, was not prepared to put the ‘rules’ of the Crown ahead of her own family’s happiness,” Myers shared. “As she told one friend before the tour, she was a ‘mother first and show pony second.'”
Russell Myers
‘William and Catherine’
Princess Diana, baby Prince William, and King Charles arrive at Alice Springs Airport in Australia on March 20, 1983.
(Image credit: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)
Diana’s approach to parenting appears to have influenced Prince William’s decision to fiercely “protect” and “nurture” his own children.