The Prince of Wales reached into his family’s private collection this weekend to share a tender moment with the world. Prince William honored Princess Diana on UK Mother’s Day by posting a previously unseen photograph of the two together, taken when he was just two years old. The image shows Diana smiling in a field of wildflowers at Highgrove, the family’s Gloucestershire estate, in 1984.
William’s message carried the weight of decades. “Remembering my mother, today and every day,” he wrote on Instagram and X, signing off simply with “W.” He added a note for others navigating the same grief: “Thinking of all those who are remembering someone they love today. Happy Mother’s Day”.
Diana was 36 when she died in a Paris car crash in August 1997. William was 15. His brother Harry was 12. This year would have marked Diana’s 65th birthday on July 1, adding extra resonance to Sunday’s tribute.
The photograph, drawn from the family’s private archives, captures a moment untouched by the turmoil that would later define Diana’s public life. Just a mother and son in an English meadow, years before the world knew either of their names .
William has spoken openly about ensuring his three children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7, know the grandmother they never met. In the 2017 documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, he described bedtime conversations about “Granny Diana” and keeping her photos visible throughout their home.
“It’s hard because obviously Catherine didn’t know her, so she cannot really provide that level of detail,” William explained. “So I regularly put George and Charlotte to bed, talk about her and just try to remind them that there are two grandmothers in their lives”.
Years ago, the children wrote Mother’s Day cards addressed to Diana. Charlotte’s read: “Dear Granny Diana, I am thinking of you on Mother’s Day. I love you very much. Papa is missing you.” George wrote: “I love you very much and think of you always”.
The wider royal family also marked Mothering Sunday. King Charles and Queen Camilla shared a black-and-white photograph from 1953 showing the late Queen Elizabeth II with a young Charles and Princess Anne at Balmoral. A corgi named Sue lingers in the background.
Another image showed Camilla with her late mother, Rosalind Shand. The accompanying message read: “Wishing Mothers everywhere, and those who might be missing their Mums today, a restful Mothering Sunday”.
Notably absent this year was the annual photograph of William and Kate’s children. Sources suggest the decision reflected William’s desire to focus entirely on Diana during a year that would have marked her 65th birthday.
For William, Sunday’s tribute continues a lifetime of keeping Diana’s memory alive. Beyond personal remembrance, he has channeled her humanitarian legacy through his work with homelessness charities, a cause Diana championed by taking William and Harry to visit shelters when they were boys.
The photograph and its message remind millions that grief doesn’t expire. Even 29 years after her death, Diana remains present in her son’s life. In the photos on his walls. In the bedtime stories he tells his children. In the work he chooses to do. And now, in a field of flowers shared with the world.
