People Magazine’s cover story this week is all about the late Princess Diana and her sons, and how she would be so disappointed with Prince William and Prince Harry’s estrangement. For years, I’ve found this selective “Ghost Diana would be disappointed in this and this” reporting to be really odd, not to mention macabre. If anyone is really going to spin it out – “what would Diana think about this situation if she were alive today” – then really go whole hog, you know? Talk about how Diana would feel about her ex-husband marrying Camilla, or what Diana would think of the grifter Middletons, or what Diana would think of how Charles has treated their sons and grandchildren.
It does feel like the point of this week’s Ghost Diana stories is to somehow blame Harry for the estrangement, and to act like Harry is the one disappointing his dead mother by refusing to abandon his wife and children to suit his brother. Andrew Morton (Diana’s biographer) told People: “We all remember the days when Harry and William were joshing with one another, and it all seemed set for their relationship and the future — that Harry, as Diana always used to say, would be William’s wingman. It’s a great loss for the monarchy.” Morton also said this (People Mag ran another story):
Princess Diana was adamant that her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, should be there for one another, which makes their estrangement so painful today.
“Diana always used to say she had two boys for a reason — the younger would be there to support the older in the lonely task as future king,” Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton tells PEOPLE in this week’s exclusive cover story.
“There is no doubt Diana would have tried to act as a peacemaker between them,” says Morton, whose latest book, Winston and the Windsors, is out in October. “If she had been around, they would have worked things out in a different way.”
Here’s the thing with that: Harry still would have been willing to be his awful brother’s “wingman/support” in general. The problem was that William wanted more than Harry’s wingman support – William wanted Harry to be divorced and broken. You think Diana would have had something to say about THAT? Meanwhile, Parade had another royal exclusive this week, about the possibility that William and Harry could reconnect:
A source is exclusively revealing to Parade why Prince Harry and Prince William might reconnect sooner rather than later amid their years-long feud.
“King Charles really isn’t doing well,” the insider says of King Charles III, who was diagnosed with cancer last year, adding that his health has been “deteriorating more.”
The source adds: “It wouldn’t be surprising if William and Harry reconnected a bit more over this. This could be the thing that pushes it to happen.”
Parade reached out to Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Odd. The part about Charles not doing well – he’s been super-active in Scotland in the past month, all while his wife is sunning herself on a super-yacht in the Mediterranean. Charles is also doing the VJ Day events today while William and Kate are on vacation, presumably in Norfolk. Now, would William call Harry and say “I don’t think Pa is doing well?” I doubt it.
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Morton got paid for this fantasy?
Willy’s not lonely. He has the Middletons. He also didn’t want Harry as his wingman – he has the von Straubanzees.
Why is it always the expectation that Harry sacrifices his life for Willy? So perverse. Willy has his heirs now. He’d better quickly groom them to do his job because he’s too lazy to do any of it.
Morton also forgot to mention that Diana never wanted to be divorced 😳😳 she loved her husband.
And Queen Elizabeth wanted Harry and his family to have Frogmore Cottage and security…………so.
Did she really?
Anything Diana said about her children in the 90s before she died is irrelevant now. Parents have lots of hopes and dreams for their school age children but they revise these as time goes on and children evolve into their personalities. Nobody knows what Diana would say if she was still alive today but I doubt she would have stayed frozen in time. Hopefully as a good parent she would have respected Harry’s decision to leave the UK for the sake of his family.
Diana would’ve helped them pack. And then pack a suitcase for herself and go with them! Well, at least until she saw them settled.
One thing we DO know for sure is that she loved Harry, and yes, even difficult Billy the Basher. I don’t know if BtB would’ve developed into *quite* such* an arrogant arse with Diana around, because she was the ONLY person who didn’t take shit from him (even as a kid, she smacked his bottom at a Sports Day at school when he misbehaved). Let’s face it, once she died (and I will *always* believe Charlie Boy/MI6 had a hand in it), Will turned into the proverbial wild child, and yes, Harry was too (the drinking, drugs, “Club H” parties). Difference? Harry actually matured. He knew he needed a purpose in life and turned to service, military AND charity work. He threw himself in with his whole chest.
While NO ONE Willie really wanted him, he finally acquiesced to someone who’d chased and hounded him down, whose mother psychologically manipulated him to think she was the mother to give him a “normal” family, something he knew NOTHING about. Plus, the added bonus that Kitty didn’t want to work as much as he didn’t. No nagging!
Harry, found his soulmate in Meghan. She encouraged him in therapy; in fact, if I remember correctly, she insisted he get therapy to continue the relationship. I remember her saying somewhere that he said something “derogatory ” jestingly, and she told him point blank he will *not* speak to her that way, and he needed to get his shit together. She made him a better man, and made HIM want to be a better man. Harry is lightyears ahead of anyone in that Left Behind mess of a collection of related by birth people.
That’s my thought as well. Diana fully supported the monarchy, of course she would have wanted her clever and able son Harry to support his older heir brother back then, but that was before the Palace fully left Harry out in the cold, using him for distraction from whatever William was up to. And I think that was also before William’s head injury-related rage fully came home to roost in an adult man rather than the tantruming child he still was when she died.
So maybe she did say and believe that, but she died 30 years ago. Things have changed.
I have never believed the injury related rage narrative.
William showed signs of aggression and unpleasant behavior well before what appears to have been a relatively minor accident.
I fell down a set of concrete stairs at age 6 and was knocked unconscious. There was no rage triggered by that incident. And I have a family member who suffered from a traumatic brain injury that was life threatening. They still suffer from some deficits but there was no uncontrollable rage episodes.
In summary William has been a little shit since earliest childhood and his issues predated the hit to his head.
I’m sure Diana would have wanted Harry to support Peg but not at the expense of having a life and family of his own. She wouldn’t want Harry to just be a scapegoat. She would want Harry to be happy and have a family and he does but he had to leave Royal life to do it and I’m sure she would have been supportive of that.
Exactly
💯
I don’t think William cares if Pa is doing well or not. The thing that’s interesting to me is that they always frame it as if Harry is wrong for not staying in the role that was designated for him. These stories are always about how 25 years ago they thought that things would go this way, or that they anticipated that Harry and William would do this, but it never accounts for them being fully autonomous beings.
They are blatant with the fact that it never crosses the mind of the institution and of the family that people may want to just do something different? They never ask, well what if this person just wants to be an architect, what if this person wants to be a priest, it’s always just you were born this is your life for the next 80 years.
Even now they frame it as if it’s impossible for Harry to support his brother as the king, without working for him. William not having his brother’s support has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not Harry is a working royal and everything to do with how horrific William is as a sibling.
“…but it never accounts for them being fully autonomous beings”.
Because they are supposed to suppress that for the good of the f*cking crown. Always, protect the crown. Do they realize how stupid that is? Is there lead in the water over there?
Lead and so much more…so much more.
These pieces are so annoying because OF COURSE a mother wants her children to get along and support each other. What I doubt, however, is that she would want Harry to sacrifice himself and his happiness to do so.
It’s like they completely forget that she herself left the family and hated how she was treated within it (and after).
So, Morton thinks Harry’s absence is a great loss for the monarchy – the monarchy doesn’t seem to think so. And William has figured out how to deal with the lonely task of being king – just don’t do it.
Diana is on camera saying she knew Charles would be a terrible king and that Harry should have been born first. Why didn’t he use her own words if he was going to create this ghostly fantasy. I’m sure she’d have been sad to see how the family was using one of her sons to camouflage the ineptitude and alcoholism of the other.
Diana had such trust in her elder son, she had no idea how he would turn out, lazy, entitled, and spiteful, and jealous of his own brother. She’d be horrified.
This! Diana had always said that Harry had the better temperament to be king. Her nickname for him was “Good King Harry”.
She knew William was a terror from childhood. She was probably hoping Harry would balance him out. But there is no way in hell Diana would tolerate the horrible treatment William is giving Harry.
Morton is openly dismissive of Harry when he is promoting his books at speaking events. When I saw him out promoting his book on the Queen a few years ago, he implied he was not smart and said he was always looking for a fight.
Did she really say Harry should have been born first on camera? Sorry, I don’t know my Diana-lore that well. As much of a terror as William might have been, that’s kind of not a great thing to say either when they’re both kids.
I don’t recall her saying Harry should have been born first.
@jais, no of course Diana didn’t say that. People really didn’t learn anything from what H&M went through. The royal reporters make sh*t up all the time and when they repeat it multiple times, it becomes a fact.
Diana did say that Harry was better suited because he has the temperament needed for the job. William doesn’t and I think she knew he was a bit of an introvert and bully.
Fact of the matter is, Diana would be with Harry’s family in California if she was alive today, fully immersed in their lives. She would be disappointed but not surprised that Charles doesn’t even know his grandchildren and that William is trapped within the institution because that is his destiny.
She would be appalled – but probably unsurprised – by how much Chuck has rejected his biological sons or has such poor relationships with them. He truly is Chuck the Cruel.
I remember that she had lost contact with her mother for a while. I think it’s possible that she would not only be at H&M in California (and have found peace there), but would also have left the circus behind her.
As a mother all I would want for my sons to be would be happy and healthy. Putting words into a dead mother’s mouth to sell books should be against the law. To expect one son to sacrifice his happiness and that of his wife and children to support a brother who has betrayed him his wife and children is unacceptable. All of the catchy words in the world(wingman) will not remove the danger Prince Harry, his wife and children would face were they return to work for Harry’s birth family. Trying to rewrite history by not addressing the betrayals and dangers Harry, his wife and children face is another form of betrayal by the gutter press and reporters in the UK. William is the only heir that needs his brother to support him, speaks to how lazy he is.
Harry is the only member of his birth family who is living a life of service. The heir and his wife have decided they do not have to justify their cost to their taxpayers by doing such. William is a violent nasty man.
Maxine Branch says:
“As a mother all I would want for my sons to be would be happy and healthy. ……….. To expect one son to sacrifice his happiness and that of his wife and children to support a brother who has betrayed him his wife and children is unacceptable.”
We have to understand: normal folks like us looking on at those people on Sunken Isle who worship, genuflect and prostrate themselves before the monarchy and wouldnt hesitate to sacrifice their newborn if it said one word of criticism against those grifters in palaces, find it impossible to wrap our heads around that kind of mindset.
Those kinds of people are not to be understood. Theyre to be stared at as we would stare at any unnatural phenomenon.
Diana having only two boys was not her choice, apparently. She wanted more (possibly a daughter) but Charles said no. Morton is frozen in time in 1992 with the Morton book. Diana may have said that she wanted her sons to support each other but doubt she would have wanted the younger son to never marry and stay with his brother to “support him.” I don’t think she would have appreciated William “advising” Harry not to move too fast in deciding on Meghan . Harry and Meghan dated two years. How come Morton does not talk about Keen being William’s support? Doesn’t Morton notice the contempt that William has for Harry. Diana would not have tolerated William abusing his brother physically and emotionally. Plus, Morton does not mention how Diana’s interview was censored by William and also that he called his own mother paranoid
I doubt William would have married Kate had Diana been around.
What an impact on history her death had, right?
The only thing that I think may be true is that at some point in the future, Charles will pass, and eventually Harry and William will be in a room together in some way. So I guess that could be called a reconnection of sorts. I don’t foresee it going well. Harry will be given limited security and William and the courtiers will find ways to make everything difficult and get in whatever digs they can. Maybe I’m wrong on that, and for Harry’s sake I hope that I am, but William refused to reply to William’s texts or let Harry board a plane when the Queen passed. So going on past behavior, I would expect more of the same. So calling that a reconnection feels like more of a euphemism than anything else. At best, the world’s eyes will be on the uk at that time and William might feel inclined to appear more magnanimous for the pr aspect. BTS though? eh.
THe price Harry would have to pay to appease Peg would be to divorce his wife and neglect his children. IMO. There is no way they can connect if William treats his sister in law and his niece and nephew so horribly. Harry tried but I think it time to move on.
No allowing Harry on that plane shows just how nasty a piece of work William is.
We know already that Harry had been relegated to the role of Cinderella, depending on crumbs just to buy clothes on sale at TJ Max, living in a run down four room cottage on palace grounds but not in the palace, and playing the pathetic third wheel to the odd couple of Pegs and Mumbles. Harry did his job for the monarchy, serving his time as spare just in case. Now that there is an heir going into his teen years, Harry’s mission is completed and he gets to decide on his own with his wife how to both be of service and live his best life with his own family. I doubt Diana would be disappointed. In fact I kind of envision her and Doria doing their Thelma and Louise Grandmas thing in Southern California, had she lived.
Oh that’s one scenario I wish had come true: Doria and Diana would have had so much fun together. The two Ds.
I always thought Diana was well suited to the California lifestyle and would move there once her children were older and more independent.
William has a wife and three children. Why is he so lonely that he needs his brother? When you marry you leave and cleave. William’s loneliness is a” you” problem, not a” we” one.
If you find someone you love in your life, then hang on to that love.
This is what Diana said about love. Harry found that and she would happy about it.
If alive Diana would like Meghan have a hard fight against her ex, the establishment and the press with all smears against her.
She wouldn’t, perhaps, be appalled that her son the future king couldn’t be bothered to show up for VJ Day 80th Anniv events even though they all (Charles, Diana, W, Harry) were there 30 years ago for the 50th?!
Using his mother to bash Harry should be beyond the pail but to bash him for not abandoning his wife and kids and doing all of W’s work for him is nonsensical.
Had Diana lived, the tabloids would’ve used William and Harry against her. There’d be endless articles about how she abandoned, blindsided or hurt them. If she ended up re-marrying and having kids with a non-white guy, the tabloid abuse and pursuit would’ve been off the charts. Morton knows this.
There is a lot of talk about how much Camilla is a ‘great support’ for Charles. Why aren’t they concentrating on Kate being a ‘great support’ for William? Why does it ‘have’ to be his brother?
Of course Diana would have wanted his children to get along. That’s a no brainer. However I firmly believe she would not have wanted that at the expense of Harry’s safety, sanity, and happiness.
What Harry has now is something Diana was known to long for…a happy marriage, a settled family, no grey men.
If Diana were alive and agreed with Charles and William’s idea of what “supporting William” means—i.e. Harry abandoning his own wife and children and his own dreams for his life in order to act as a human shield for William—then she would be a dogshit mother in the same way that Charles is a dogshit father. But all evidence points to the fact that Diana fervently disagreed with how the Windsors threw to the wolves anyone who wasn’t the monarch or the heir. She lived it and died because of it.
Support goes two ways. The Windsors want Harry to support William and they want to dictate the terms of that support. There is no discussion of William doing anything to support Harry. And no discussion of allowing Harry’s own wife to support Harry in his own hopes and dreams of love and personal fulfillment. William cannot be allowed to be lonely, but Harry must be made to be lonely. Thank god Harry escaped that cult before he could be made to accept such a fate.
This “would have been” business! If Diana would be alive today Harry and Willi would not be in this situation. There might have been a different drama but not this.
In the eyes of the royal biographers and commentators this “Diana would have wanted William and Harry to support each other” is always a one way street. Harry sacrificing his life to support “King” Willi. As soon as George, Charlotte and Louis would have been in an age they could take on royal duties Willi would have dumped Harry, Willi giving Harry a warm handshake and saying “We do not need you anymore”., or degrade Harry to do the jobs the other would not want to do.
My guess is William is going to do everything in his power to ostracize Harry in the run up to Charles’ funeral like Charles did to Harry and Meghan when the Queen died. I think Harry has given up on any attempt to reconcile with William.
@Amy Bee agreed 💯 Will has cleaved to Jason and both are committed to campaign of denigration against Harry and Meghan in perpetuity so no reconciliation will ever happen. Will is a scary dude and quite frankly Harry should never be alone with him again.
One thing I find odd about this whole wingman argument is that it’s contingent upon Harry being single. Not even taking Williams jealousy of Meghan into it, I think they never considered Harry having his own family. This is why they put the burden on Harry, despite Williams truly awful behavior and the incredibly nasty briefings, to this day, about how much he hates Harry. They always say Harry has to come back and leave his family to support William. It’s never he and his family need to move back because they know Harry with his family, regardless if their rank, will define the modern monarchy, and they can never ever have that. All this talk about supporting William is bullsh*t. He didn’t want the support once his brother got married, and actively pushed him away.
Yeah, it’s all such a lie. William had two massive workhorses in Harry and Meghan, and he (and Charles) flat out didn’t want them stealing their non-existent thunder. Wish granted. There is no thunder anywhere in England.
@L4Frimaire, I think there’s an important point you might be missing…Harry was welcome to marry a WHITE woman. He was welcome to have WHITE children. That H fell in love with an accomplished, bi-racial woman who happens to be stunningly beautiful with an established work and charitable resume, that was the sin. That’s what makes H’s family so unwelcome. It’s not that H was meant to never have his own family, it’s that NOW, if H were to come back, that he must be widowed or divorced and he must abandon his bi-racial children in favour of The Crown. Because the crown is White Might in ‘action’ and also because how dare he defy the CROWN…no matter whose head it’s sitting on.
What the crown folk fail to understand is #LoveWins!!!
None of the bullshit 🤬 that’s gone done by the putrid Royal Family regarding Harry would have went down if his Mama was alive …I put BANK ON THAT!
Well, William couldn’t have the world knowing that Harry chose a better wife than him. Harry is supposed to be the buffoon and marry the likes of the party girls and nobodies he dated previously. He was never supposed to outshine William and his boring wife. Meghan is beautiful, smart, and ambitious. Everything that Kate isn’t.
I agree with you. I think that’s exactly it—William was led to believe he could have anything he wanted, and Harry couldn’t. And now Harry has many things William wants, and William can’t do anything about it. Except be angry, rage, and destroy things created in his mother’s name. Making his rage of being left behind from her AND Harry a symbol for her 30th death anniversary…
First, assumptions about royal life under the old Queen have to be somewhat revised in the glaring light of Andrew’s continuing fall.
Prince Phillip once said something along the lines of ‘they were a family of farmers’ to illustrate the level of royal sophistication under the crown.
Sadly the objects of the farmers derision, Diana, Harry and Meghan, are the only ones who have and who continue to perform, before the eyes of the casual observer, real, meaningful service to the royal family.
No wonder the farmers plot against them.
Diana would have wanted Harry to be William’s support and wingman.
What would she want from William?
How would she have wanted him to treat to his brother and his brother’s family?
She and Charles divorced. Not because she didn’t love Charles but because she didn’t intend to live the life that he and Camilla had planned for her.
Do we think that she would have wanted Harry to be the wingman given the life William had planned for him?
Charles treated Diana with open contempt she said her life was torture.
“Now, would William call Harry and say “I don’t think Pa is doing well?” I doubt it.”
I doubt William knows anything more than what Harry does (from reading the papers).
And who knows how Charles really is, he cried at VJ Day after the speaker mentioned his cancer treatment.
That’s why Harry is called “the Spare”. William can put him on the shelf and expect him to still be there when they need him.
Will probably would want to censor Diana s words to Morton. Morton has legal precautions imo to keep peggs from censoring the Morton diana,book