Princess Diana’s tragic death on August 31, 1997 left people around the world in shock. Fans mourned her in their millions, but no-one felt the loss quite like her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, who were just 15 and 12 years old respectively at the time.
Despite losing their mother at such young ages, one of Diana’s former employees has shared why he believes the late Princess is still a guiding presence in the Princes’ lives.
Patrick Jephson, the late Princess of Wales’s former private secretary, thinks that she left them “important warnings to heed” and an understanding of the “sacrifice” involved in their roles.
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He told PEOPLE, “If they study Princess Diana’s life carefully – and I hope they often do – William, Harry and their advisers will know that she left them many good examples to follow and also a few important warnings to heed.”
In his view, the Princess showed them that, “Public affection and the rich rewards of royalty must be earned with self-sacrifice and service.”
The former royal staff member, who has previously written a book about his time working with Princess Diana, added, “I’m sure they are grateful that every day she can still guide, comfort and inspire them along the difficult path they were born to follow.”
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“Prince William and Prince Harry keep their mother’s memory alive both privately and publically. We’ve seen how the Wales kids write Mother’s Day cards to ‘Granny Diana’ and both Charlotte and her cousin Lilibet have Diana as a middle name,” explains woman&home’s Royal Editor, Emma Shacklock. “And you only have to look at the organisations and causes the brothers champion to see how Diana has inspired them.”
The Prince of Wales is deeply committed to tackling homelessness and in the 2024 documentary, Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, he specifically referenced how he’s being influenced by her example.
“I have taken some guidance from what my mother did,” he explained. Prince William also recalled Diana taking him and Prince Harry to The Passage – an organisation which is working to end homelessness, prevent it and advocate for and with those who feel their voices aren’t being heard.
“I must have been about 11, I think probably at the time. Maybe 10,” William shared. “I’d never been to anything like that before. And I was a bit anxious as to what to expect.”
He continued, “My mother went about her usual part of making everyone feel relaxed and having a laugh and joking with everyone. I remember at the time kind of thinking, ‘Well, if everyone’s not got a home, they’re all going to be really sad.’ But it was incredible how happy an environment it was.”
As well as being very supportive of The Passage, Princess Diana was Patron of youth homeless charity, Centrepoint, and the Prince of Wales became their Patron in 2005.
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Similarly, Prince Harry has often walked in his late mother’s footsteps when it comes to charity and service – sometimes literally. In the summer of 2025, the Duke of Sussex recreated one of his mother’s most famous and poignant charitable moments, walking through a former landmine site in Angola to advocate for a mine-free future.
When Princess Diana walked through the minefield in 1997 in support of the HALO Trust, it made headlines around the world. Recreating the work, HALO Patron Prince Harry powerfully declared, “Children should never have to live in fear of playing outside or walking to school.”
