Diana (10 page)

“I just want my children to be happy and normal. I will do everything I can to help them achieve these very ordinary feelings.”

After Fergie [Sarah Ferguson] and Andrew’s wedding in September 1986: “Did you see William? I’m glad he behaved himself because he can be a bit of a prankster. William is just like me, always in trouble, but he’ll grow out of it.”

On choosing schools for the young princes: “I think it’s too soon really. William’s only three and
Harry one. And I think there’s no hurry at all until we see what sort of characters they’re going to produce as they get older, and then find a school that they can adapt to. Certainly, if William likes outdoor life we’ll find a school that has that as its main feature.”

During their first official tour in 1983 to Australia, a young student asked Diana whether William had a favorite toy. “He loves his koala bear he’s got, but he hasn’t got anything particular. He just likes something with a bit of noise.”

Diana’s favorite phrase at tucking-in time: “Who loves you most?”

In the matter of her sons’ nanny, Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who Diana felt was getting far too close to her sons
and
her husband, Diana said, “I am the boys’ mother, thank you very much.”

“I am only too aware of the temptation of avoiding harsh reality, not just for myself but for my own children, too. Am I doing them a favor if I hide suffering and unpleasantness from them until the last possible minute? The last minute which I choose for them may be too late. I can only face them with a choice based on what I know. The rest is up to them.”

Talking to nurses at Marlow Hospital, where Prince William was taken after a classmate accidentally fractured his skull with a golf club: “It was a nasty wound which needed twenty-four stitches, but at least he’s fine now, sitting up in bed at the Palace. I’m very relieved.”

“Only when the baby [Harry] is a lot older will he realize how lucky he is not being the eldest. The second child will never have the same sort of
pressures or problems that poor William will always have to put up with.”

“Prince William and Prince Harry can be little devils sometimes. But when they are, they get a whack where they can feel it. It’s tiring work looking after children. I know because I have to look after my two boys and by Sunday I’m a stretcher case. But I love being with children and I miss them when they are not beside me.”

During a visit with a young woman dying of cancer, the woman’s mother told Diana that her son had pierced his navel. “God,” Diana said, “if William ever did that, my mother-in-law would hit the roof.”

On William: “He opens doors for women and calls men ‘sir.’”