Prince William opened up about the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a revealing new interview with British GQ, saying he wishes she had the chance to meet his wife, Duchess Kate, and their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
“I would like to have had her advice,” William, 34, told the magazine in his July 2017 cover story. “I would love her to have met Catherine and to have seen the children grow up. It makes me sad that she won’t, that they will never know her.”
As the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death approaches, William has noticed a change in himself. “I am in a better place about it than I have been for a long time, where I can talk about her more openly, talk about her more honestly, and I can remember her better, and publicly talk about her better,” he said. “It has taken me almost 20 years to get to that stage.”
“I still find it difficult now because at the time it was so raw. And also it is not like most people’s grief, because everyone else knows about it, everyone knows the story, everyone knows her,” he continued. “It is a different situation for most people who lose someone they love, it can be hidden away or they can choose if they want to share their story.”
Through it all, the prince has had the support of his family. “I could not do my job without the stability of the family,” he told British GQ. “Stability at home is so important to me. I want to bring up my children in a happy, stable, secure world and that is so important to both of us as parents. I want George to grow up in a real, living environment, I don’t want him growing up behind palace walls, he has to be out there. The media make it harder but I will fight for them to have a normal life.”
William’s full interview with British GQ hits newsstands on Thursday, June 1.
