Prince Harry covers the latest issue of People Royals, the quarterly magazine devoted to People Magazine’s royal-specific reporting/stories. What’s interesting about that from an editorial perspective is that… People Magazine didn’t put Queen Elizabeth’s Jubbly on the main cover. Nor did People put Prince William’s 40th birthday on the cover. It’s fascinating to me, because you would really think that QEII would get the cover, right? But maybe People’s editors are leaning into coverage of the younger royals and what they’re up to. And Harry is, of course, the most compelling royal figure these days. The cover story of the quarterly magazine is all about how Harry is his mother’s son.

Prince Harry is continuing the work of his late mother, Princess Diana. His journey from schoolboy to Army officer and champion of the charity trail blazed by his mother is chronicled in the latest issue of PEOPLE Royals.

Six years ago, Harry told PEOPLE, “There’s other times when I think, ‘All I want to do is make my mother incredibly proud.’ That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.” Since then, Harry — at 37, he’s one year older than his mother was when she died in Paris on August 31, 1997 — has seen his life change irrevocably. He and wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (who he married in 2018) and their two children Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1, have settled in Montecito, California. One thing that hasn’t changed? His connection with those in need.

“He has that joie de vivre, and that connecting touch,” biographer Ingrid Seward, who knew his mother Diana well, says of Harry’s talent for hands-on public duty.

That is never more apparent than when he visits with the WellChild charity that helps ill children and their family and caregivers. Harry “has patience more than anything else. The most important skill is to listen and understand and he does that really, really well,” former CEO of the charity Colin Dyer has told PEOPLE.

And he has a magnetic appeal in widening the publicity for both banning landmines and helping those maimed by the weapons. “He’s stepping into the void” left by Diana, says activist Ken Rutherford. Adds the U.S. executive director of mine-clearing charity HALO Trust, Chris Whatley: “There’s no comparison to the public attention” generated by Harry such as when he visited Angola in 2019.

Harry, of course, is not alone in following in his mother’s footsteps. On Monday, his brother William, 40, explained how he is also tackling the ongoing issue of homelessness that Diana introduced to both of her sons. One day, William said, he will introduce his own children to the cause too.

[From People]

*sad clown noise* William also tries to follow in his mom’s footsteps too. That’s what it felt like! Anyway, yes, Harry is Diana’s son. Harry got so much of Diana’s personality and he got all of the right lessons from Diana’s life. When Diana sensed danger, she was consumed by it. When Harry sensed danger, he got the f–k out there to protect his wife and children. It’s also weird to me that People Royals is talking about WellChild and HALO… and not mentioning Invictus? Strange. I know that Diana didn’t have anything to do with Invictus, but Invictus is the best example, imo, of how Harry is Diana’s son.

Photos courtesy of Instar.