Its been over 24 years since her death, both of her sons are grown and married, she has grandchildren that she never met. Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a suspicious car-accident on August 31st 1997. As Prince William and Duchess Catherine of Cambridge celebrated their ten-year anniversary just days ago, mere weeks after the passing of Prince Phillip the Duke of Edinburgh we take a look back at a Princess who seemed to know: she would never be Queen.
Thank you to everyone for the kind messages on our wedding anniversary. We are enormously grateful for the 10 years of support we have received in our lives as a family. W & C
📹 @will_warr pic.twitter.com/eWNw1E8FLB
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) April 29, 2021
Both of her princely sons seem to have known it as well, which made it all the more fitting when Prince Harry gifted his mother’s sapphire engagment ring to his brother for Catherine to wear.
According to Insider, Diana’s butler Paul Burrell said at the time Harry had said to Prince William “‘Wouldn’t it be fitting if she had mummy’s ring?'”
“Then one day that ring will be sat on the throne of England,”
Rewind Back A Few Years, When We Learned The Truth About Diana
Four years ago, twenty years after her death that rocked the Western world, the Express made one of the saddest reports in the history of their publication. According to Martin Bashir who interviewed her in 1995, he asked if she ever thought that she would be Queen. It went down hill extremely quickly from there. Diana answered quickly, “no, I don’t”.
According to Express, she continued,
“I’d like to be a queen of people’s hearts – in people’s hearts – but I don’t see myself being Queen of this country.
“I don’t think many people will want me to be Queen.
“Actually, when I say people, I mean the establishment that I married into because they have decided that I’m a non-starter.”
She revealed that the main reason she would never be accepted by the royal family is because she does not follow a “rule book” and “leads from the heart not the head”.
Diana knew, and her sons both knew that she was as she put it “a non-starter”. She was too populist, too connected to the common people, unwilling and unable to stay quiet on causes like the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Cancer, Leprosy and the lasting legacy of humanity’s 20th century wars: residual land-mines. The Princess of Wales was far too outspoken on multiple causes that drew controversy. It was why the people cared for her so much. And why the Royal family would never allow her to to be Queen.
Diana’s sons, long after investigations into her suspicious death ended, arranged that at least something of their mother would sit upon the throne. When William is eventually crowned King (perhaps skipping his father…) and Catherine takes her seat beside him as the Queen Diana was never destined to be, Diana’s sapphire ring will adorn her hand and her children and grandchildren will lead the United Kingdom into the 21st Century.