Will honouring Diana push William and Harry further apart?
For example, Prince William had said of Diana: I think shed be proud that Harry and I have managed to come through everything thats happened, having lost her, and that gives me positivity and strength to know that I can, I can face anything the world can throw at me.  Contrast that with Prince Harrys interview with Oprah Winfrey when he talked of his father, Prince Charles, and his 95-year old grandmother, the Queen, and their dysfunctional childhoods, accusing his father of passing on a form of pain or suffering due to the way he had been treated growing up. He certainly did not extend the same critique to his mother  even though Diana lived through a famously difficult childhood. The Princess had always been clear that she was significantly affected by her parents bitter divorce, revealing that as a child she felt abandoned by her mother, fuelling a lifelong insecurity. That upbringing made Diana determined to adopt a totally different approach to royal child-rearing. She wanted her boys never to doubt that they were loved. She was determined her boys would be treated the same, even though acutely aware that their paths would be very different. In particular, Diana wanted to ensure Harry would never feel second-best  or less loved  just because he was the Spare and not the Heir. Yet the Royal family is unlike any other: William was always going to be King and Harry would always come second in importance to that. One passion the brothers did share was her charity work; in 2005, for example, William became patron of Centrepoint, a London charity for homeless youth that Diana began working with in 1992. My mother introduced that sort of area to me a long time ago, he said. It was a real eye-opener and I am very glad she did. It has been something I have held close to me for a long time.  Harry has also followed Dianas causes, beginning by setting up the charity Sentebale in Africa for orphans of parents who died from AIDS. Then, during his and Meghans tour of Africa in September 2019, Harry visited the same former minefield in Angola as his mother had 20 years earlier. Her legacy lives on where the brothers share concerns, too, about climate change, conservation and, in particular, mental health. Diana had suffered hugely with bulimia, paranoia and huge mood swings; she also self-harmed. The boys knowledge of that inspired them  with Kate  to set up the Royal Foundation with a platform on mental health to reduce stigma and shame. Yet, while there is no competing over charitable turf, it is the way Harry pursues his aims that causes tension. In particular, much of Harry and Meghans charitable work goes through their Archewell Foundation, which has a commercial slant that seems to break Her Majestys rules for senior royals. It would be unthinkable to imagine William behaving that way. Is Harrys determination to do things how he pleases a sign that he wants to follow in his mothers footsteps as a rebellious royal. Diana once admitted: I do things differently because I dont go by a rule book, [and] because I lead from the heart, not the head someones got to go out there and love people and show it.  That sounds like classic Harry. I have a lot of my mother in me, he has said, no doubt referring to the way his mother was not afraid to be unconventional  if she felt that was called for. The legacy Diana perhaps wanted most to leave both her children was to have the stability she missed as a child. I want to bring them up securely, she said. She grew closer to them as her relationship with Prince Charles fell apart, but seemed often to forget that she was the adult and they were the children. This role-reversal resulted in her increasingly leaning on William, telling him her troubles, discussing her lovers and even her divorce. She became emotionally dependent on him  a heavy burden for young shoulders. When William went to boarding school, Diana sought comfort in Harrys presence, taking him with her whenever she could and particularly if there was a Royal family event she had to attend. She showered him with love and kisses; the bond between them grew even stronger.