Diana’s ghost. William relives the greatest pain of his life at a time when the pressure of the throne is increasing – The Mag

The last few years and, especially these first months of 2024, have brought to light the Prince William memories that you always tried to keep at the bottom of your drawer. Times have been complicated. And if, on the one hand, the war with his brother, Harry, has worn him down more than he could imagine, the hardships he has experienced have led him to evoke memories of his mother, Princess Diana, over and over again. Not the sweetest ones, which have the power to make him smile, but that fateful day when, on holiday in Balmoral, Scotland, he found out that his mother had died in a tragic car accident.

“Scotland has the ability to bring its owner the happiest, but also the saddest, memories”William has already made it known, referring, on the positive side, to the fact that it was in that country that he met Kate Middleton and on the saddest side, of course, the biggest nightmare he lived with the premature departure of his mother, at just 36 years old.

It was the joys of life that made him able to bear the loss. He became a father three times, was always happily married and everything was going well in the family until, four years ago, his brother Harry would, without knowing it at the time, start a sequence of harmful events for the British royal family. It was like a domino effect. A year later, grandfather Felipe de Edinburgh died, and a year ago Queen Elizabeth II, the pillar of the family, left them to their own devices.

“The walk (behind Elizabeth II’s coffin) was challenging. It brought back some painful memories”said William, remembering the moment that would go down in history when he and his brother had to stand firm at their mother’s funeral ceremonies, before the watchful eyes of the entire world.

William and Harry at their mother’s funeral
Photo: Flash

After the important losses for the family, Charles III was crowned king, things with Harry were even calmer and when it was thought that the problems in the Palace were going to be alleviated, a double ‘bomb’ left the ‘house on fire’. In the same month, William learned that his father was fighting a prostate tumor and that his wife, Kate Middletonis also struggling with a battle against cancer, at 42 years old.

The two pieces of news are absolutely devastating for the prince, who is not allowed, however, to mourn. At home, he pays close attention so that nothing is missing for the woman he loves and, above all, for his three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, with the prince trying to maintain as much normality as possible within the four walls. But on the other hand, there is the father’s situation, with all that that implies. The cancer of Charles III, at the age of 75, put the issue of succession on the table, and there are more and more specialist voices speaking about the possibility, sooner than one might imagine, of William and Kate Middleton can be crowned king of England.

“We have to be clear about one thing: whatever the prognosis regarding the king, the truth is that he is 75 years old and is fighting cancer”warned royal biographer Tina Brown, adding that, at a particularly difficult time, William still has to deal with the pressure of the succession and the throne. “What people haven’t thought about yet is that the king’s medical situation brings William and Kate much closer to the throne. And that’s more than they can handle at the moment. It’s been a lot of pressure.”

William lives, therefore, in a mix of feelings between being at the side of his wife and father during the toughest battle of their lives and not failing his British subjects and maintaining the necessary coolness in these types of situations, for which he was always trained. throughout life.

But it is here, they say, that Diana’s legacy also comes into play and her heart always comes before royal duties and this is what has been seen, with William not leaving Kate’s bedside, of whom he is very proud of the way how you are coping with the disease.

And it is also at this moment that William feels, more than ever, missing his grandmother who was a bringer of the family and always knew what to do in the most difficult situations. Elizabeth II still saw her grandson Harry turn his back on her, but she would no longer witness the sequence of illnesses in the family, which was only completed by Sarah Ferguson, also fighting cancer.

With the coming times expected to be difficult, the British’s most beloved family can only believe that, however long it takes, everything will eventually be fine.