Prince William made a heartbreaking promise to his mother, Princess Diana, after her HRH title was taken away following her divorce from the-then Prince Charles in 1996, just a year before her tragic death.
On Charles and Diana's wedding day in 1981, Lady Diana Spencer became Her Royal Highness. But while the Queen was said to be happy for Diana to keep her HRH title following the divorce, Charles was not. In the end, Charles got his way and Diana became Diana, Princess of Wales.
She was reportedly extremely very upset by the decision. Losing the HRH meant it was no longer necessary for friends or staff to bow or curtsy in Diana’s presence. But what was worse for Diana was that she would now have to curtsy to Charles, her two sons, as well as several other royals.
To try and cheer her up, 14-year-old Prince William made a heartbreaking promise to his mother. In former royal butler Paul Burrell's book, A Royal Duty, he says that Prince William told her, "Don't worry Mummy, I will give it back to you one day when I am king."
According to Paul, the conversation left Diana in tears. But sadly the promise was never to be. Almost exactly a year after their divorce, Diana tragically died in a car crash alongside her rumoured love interest Dodi Fayed in Paris, on August 31, 1997 - making William’s promise to give her back her HRH title all the more heartbreaking.
What's even sadder is that losing her HRH status also meant losing the royal protection that went with it, which could potentially have prevented Diana from being in a speeding car being pursued by paparazzi on that fateful night in 1997.
After their divorce, Diana was reportedly awarded a £17million lump sum and £350,000 a year to run her private office. She was also allowed to keep her apartments at Kensington Palace and the former couple agreed to share custody of their sons.
Prince William has spoken about how he felt in the hours immediately after finding out about his mother's death - and in The Crown he is depicted to have gone missing for 14 hours after finding out. In a documentary called Diana, 7 Days, Prince William spoke about the days at Balmoral Castle following her death, he said, "I remember just feeling completely numb, disorientated, dizzy. You feel very, very confused. And you keep asking yourself, 'Why me?' All the time, 'Why? What have I done? Why? Why has this happened to us?'"
And in 2021, per the Standard, the Prince spoke about finding solace in the 'Scottish Outdoors' following his mother's sudden death. During an emotional speech at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Prince said, "I was in Balmoral when I was told that my mother had died.
"Still in shock, I found sanctuary in the service at Crathie Kirk that very morning and in the dark days of grief that followed I found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors. As a result, the connection I feel to Scotland will forever run deep."
