Both Prince William and Prince Harry have spoken openly about the immense grief they felt when they learned of the death of their mother, Princess Diana.

Diana was only 36 when she died in a car crash in Paris in August 1997. William was 15 and Harry just 12, spending their summer holiday at Balmoral with their father when the devastating news came. Their father’s painful task of telling them their mother was gone left a lasting imprint on their lives.

The Funeral and Public Grief

Princess Diana’s funeral on September 6, 1997, watched by more than 32 million people in the UK, became one of the most unforgettable public events of the decade. The image of the two young princes walking behind their mother’s coffin remains etched in the world’s memory.

In a 2023 interview, Harry admitted he did not cry until his mother’s coffin was finally laid to rest at Althorp. “Once my mother’s coffin actually went into the ground, that was the first time that I actually cried,” he told Anderson Cooper. “There was never another time.”

Harry recalled feeling guilt, believing mourners they met seemed to express more emotion than he and his brother could. “I remember how wet people’s hands were from wiping their own tears. I couldn’t understand it. And one of the strangest parts was taking flowers from people and placing them with the rest, as if I was a middle person for their grief.”