Diana’s avowed intention when she entered the royal family in 1981 was to ““build bridges’’ between the prince and his family, and with his parents in particular. As a mother, she introduced tactile love and affection to the Windsors, and standards of behavior less constricted by tradition and royal protocol. Diana was supremely unstuffy in her attitudes, with friends from all walks of life. She tried to put her sons in touch with ordinary people and to make them experience life outside the royal enclave. With her, William and Harry enjoyed the pleasures that ordinary British children experience–theme parks, sports and movies. And on trips with their mother to the Centrepoint homeless shelter in London, they encountered suffering and hopelessness.
Charles will have to fill the void for his sons as best he can. He has a warm relationship with both boys and has always made time to spend holidays with them, either the traditional Christmas at Sandringham and August at Balmoral or skiing trips with old friends. For help, he has relied on Tiggy Legge-Bourke, 31, hired as his social secretary, who has acted as part nanny, part elder sister to the boys since his separation from Diana. Tiggy is such an important figure in the children’s lives that William invited her, not his parents, to traditional Fourth of June celebrations at Eton College. Tiggy was on holiday with the princes at Balmoral last month and returned there to comfort the boys on their mother’s death.
Eton itself will continue to provide a secure environment for William. His house master is Dr. Andrew Galley, young, bright and intelligent. In Galley’s house, William has his own room and the set of friends he has made during his two years at the school. And, importantly, he will be protected from the press; Galley’s house is safely tucked away and secure. Harry, now at a preparatory school called Ludgrove, probably will follow his brother to Eton.
Eton has another advantage. It is at the bottom of the hill on which Windsor Castle stands, and William frequently goes to tea with his grandmother the queen. William’s grandparents will represent continuity in both boys’ lives. William in particular is comfortable with them; last Christmas, when he could have skied with his father, he chose to spend the time at Sandringham with the queen.
William and Harry will remain within the Windsor family circle. Despite the pledge of involvement issued by Diana’s brother, Charles, during his funeral eulogy, the Spencers do not represent an alternative refuge. Diana’s father is dead; her mother lives a lonely life on a distant Scottish island. Charles Spencer has abandoned the family home for South Africa. Her sister Jane, the sensible, levelheaded sibling of her generation, is married to Sir Robert Fellowes, the queen’s private secretary, whom Diana regarded as ““the enemy.’’ Her other sister, Sarah, who preceded her as Charles’s girlfriend, has problems of her own. Yet another factor binding the boys to the Windsors is their great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, Charles’s and everyone else’s favorite granny.
So the boys do have a support system that can help them through these terrible days of loss and into a stable future. And the evidence suggests that the family has accepted that Diana’s modern, human legacy will not and must not be forgotten.
