Princes William and Harry, Princess Diana's Legacy

Do you remember where you were on the morning of September 1, 1997, nineteen years ago? Do you remember what you were doing? What you were wearing? I do. I was in my robe and had just gone outside to retrieve the newspaper when I read the unbelievable headline on the front page. Princess Diana was dead. I walked back into the house in shock, thinking to myself this had to be a mistake, or a hoax, or a dream. As the reality set in, I sat down at the kitchen table and cried.

I have often wondered why the death of a princess in a far-off land impacted me so much. I think it was because she was the first royal who people could really identify with, who I could identify with. To me, she was an ordinary girl, a school teacher (as I was at the time) who married into extraordinary circumstances. She was everything the royals were not: fashionable, down to earth, vulnerable, and real. The world fell in love with the shy beauty who married a man who would be King. Her wedding was the wedding of the century and the whole world stopped to watch it on television. We celebrated when William and Harry were born, and we mourned when we realized that the fairytale princess’s life wasn’t such a fairytale after all. We watched the princess struggle through a distant relationship, extramarital affairs, scrutiny from the royal family and the press that hounded her like they have hounded no one else before or since. We watched her struggle with her own demons, like anorexia and bulimia, and her achingly public divorce.

As needy and desperate as the press made her out to be, Diana lived a life of compassion and goodwill and served over 100 charities. When she divorced, she resigned from most of them to dedicate her life and her work to the causes of her heart: leprosy, HIV/AIDS, land mines and homelessness. She remained active on boards serving Centrepoint, an organization that provides accommodation and support to homeless people aged 16–25 in the United Kingdom, the English National Ballet, the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, The Leprosy Mission, the National AIDS Trust, the Royal Marsden Hospital, a specialist cancer treatment hospital in London, and the British Red Cross Anti-Personnel Landmines Campaign.

But her most impressive role, the role she cherished above all, was that of a devoted and loving mother. No matter what came out in the press about Diana’s foibles and problems, no one ever doubted her love for her children or the type of mother that she was to them. Both boys, little princes who have grown up to be important public figures, have tried to emulate their mother with involvement in charity organizations and good works to benefit their country and the world.

Both princes volunteered at the British Red Cross to aid Tsunami victims in 2004. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and heir to the throne, has granted his patronage to Centrepoint, the Royal Marsden Hospital, the Mountain Rescue England and Wales organization, and a philanthropic initiative called 100 Women in Hedgefunds, among many others. Harry, also known as Henry, Prince of Wales, is involved in The Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style sporting event for injured servicemen and women, which he founded; The Fisher House UK at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, one of the Invictus Games sponsors, Help for Heroes, Walking with the Wounded, WellChild, and many more philanthropic organizations. In 2009, The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry was set up to further their charitable ambitions. In 2012 the foundation was renamed The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, to include Kate, William’s wife, following their wedding in 2011.

Princess Diana, by the age of 36, succeeded in making her life’s mission, which was to help the world, come to fruition. It is so unfortunate that when she finally rose above the despair and unhappiness in her life, it had to end. She would have done and been so much more. Nineteen years later, when I read all of the articles posted about her life and death at the anniversary of her passing, it still makes me sad. Her sons have said that they want to ensure that their mother, “The People’s Princess,” will not be forgotten. I don’t think they have anything to worry about in that regard.