Fergie’s Heartfelt Birthday Tribute to Diana Highlights the Royals’ Current Struggles
The Duke of Sussex is “letting history repeat itself” by following in his mother’s footsteps and clashing with the Royal Family, according to a Royal expert. Prince Harry has been criticized for focusing too much on attacking the Royal Family and stepping into the role his mother left behind after her ongoing feud with ‘The Firm’. In his memoir “Spare,” Harry discussed Princess Diana and her legacy, expressing his desire for “peace” within his family. Royal author and expert Tom Quinn has warned that Harry risks perpetuating the situation if he continues to dwell on his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales’ struggles.
Tom further suggested that Harry has assumed his mother’s “mantle” as an adult. He explained: “Diana famously fell out with ‘the firm’ as she called it and spent much of her adult life criticizing an institution she felt had let her down. Harry has taken on his mother’s mantle by carrying on exactly the same kind of criticism.”
The expert has shed light on Prince Harry’s struggle following the tragic loss of his mother in 1997. The prince, just 12 years old when Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris, has openly discussed the mental toll that her death took on him. Tom shared to The Mirror: “He hates that he feels he has to do this and he would like to be close again to his father King Charles and his brother Prince William, but like his mother he’s locked into a battle that has become an obsession for him.”
Highlighting Harry’s time in the military, Mr. Quinn said it provided solace from constant emotional strain, including feelings of isolation and misfit throughout his life. Mr. Quinn further commented: “Harry’s statement that fighting in Afghanistan was better than remaining in Britain makes complete sense given that we know one of the few periods in his life during which he was happy was his time in the military. Fighting in Afghanistan gave him a sense of camaraderie that he has never had with his family.”
Fergie, as the Duchess of York is popularly known, penned a tribute to Diana on social media on July 1. She shared a photo of the pair standing side-by-side on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch the Battle of Britain Anniversary Parade on September 15, 1990, with a heartfelt message: “Happy birthday to my dear friend, Diana. You were a pillar of light and love. And what a legacy you have left behind. I will forever remember our laughter and the kindred, kind spirit I found in you. I am sure you are watching over us always. Rest in peace, my friend,” Fergie, 64, concluded.
Princess Diana and Fergie became royal sisters-in-law through their respective marriages to the future King Charles and Prince Andrew, but they were close friends since their teenage years. “We were best friends from when she was 14 and I was 15,” Fergie, who affectionately called Diana “Duch,” exclusively told PEOPLE in 2021.
In fact, it was Diana who introduced her friend to Prince Andrew. “I said to her, ‘Oh, Andrew’s really good-looking,’ ” the Duchess of York recalled. “And she said, ‘Duh, Fergs!'” (Sarah and Andrew wed in 1986 and divorced a decade later but remained amicable friends and co-parents of their daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.)
As part of the royal family, Diana and Sarah would compare notes and offer each other support. “Diana and I both had our own mental health issues, and she and I used to talk,” the Duchess of York recalled. “She said, ‘Fergie, remember one thing: When you’re at the top of the pedestal, it’s so easy to fall off. And you’re at the bottom. You just climb up.'”
“We were positioned as saint and sinner,” she continued. “And the most important thing was to remain robust together, and we did, no matter what anyone wrote.”
Princess Diana tragically died in 1997 following a car crash in Paris when she was only 36. Fergie said during a 2023 appearance on Good Morning America that Princess Diana would be “very proud” of her five grandchildren from her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. “I think we’d have a Granny-Off,” said the Duchess of York, a grandmother to Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie’s children. “Because she would run faster in the races. I wonder — she’d probably be funnier. No, I think I’d be funnier.”
In honor of what would have been Princess Diana’s 60th birthday on July 1, 2021, her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, reunited at their childhood home of Kensington Palace to unveil a new statue of their mother. The tribute, located in the Sunken Garden, showed Diana with three children, reflecting her work to support and nurture children around the world. “Today, on what would have been our Mother’s 60th birthday, we remember her love, strength and character – qualities that made her a force for good around the world, changing countless lives for the better,” the brothers said in a joint statement. “Every day, we wish she were still with us, and our hope is that this statue will be seen forever as a symbol of her life and her legacy.”
Meghan Markle found a special way to honor Princess Diana during her trip to Nigeria. The Duchess of Sussex, 42, wore a sentimental necklace that belonged to Prince Harry’s mother to a reception for military families in Abuja on May 11. PEOPLE exclusively reveals that the necklace, featuring a delicate diamond cross on a gold chain, was a recent gift from Harry to his wife and once belonged to Princess Diana. Meghan often pays tribute to Harry’s mother through fashion, and has several pieces in her jewelry box that belonged to the late Princess of Wales, including butterfly earrings and an aquamarine ring. Prince Harry, 39, also famously included two diamonds from his mother’s personal collection in the tri-stone engagement ring he designed for Meghan when he proposed in 2017.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex follow in the footsteps of Harry’s parents, King Charles and Princess Diana, who visited Nigeria for an official visit in March 1990. Meghan may have subtly paid tribute to Diana during the first day of their trip on May 10 by wearing a gold collar necklace reminiscent of one Diana wore during her time in Nigeria over 30 years ago.
On May 11, Meghan wore the cross necklace with a St. Agni white strapless column linen dress and her hair swept up, allowing the accessory to shine. She received a warm welcome at the reception held at the Defense Headquarters Officers Mess, where an official acknowledged Meghan’s Nigerian heritage in their address. “Princess Meghan is a Nigerian!” Abike Dabiri Erewa, chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora, said at the event. The exclamation won a round of applause from the crowd, plus a smile and applause from Meghan herself. The Duchess of Sussex previously shared on her podcast Archetypes that she discovered she is 43% Nigerian through a genealogy test. Throughout the trip, she spoke of the connection she feels to the country.
The chairman went on to say that she was “excited but not surprised” when Meghan shared the news about her Nigerian heritage, “because she is beautiful, intelligent, diligent and hardworking and she stands firm in the midst of challenges.” “Prince Harry, you married the best — our daughter, our friend, Princess Meghan,” she said. “I hope you come back again, again and again.”
Harry and Meghan are in Nigeria at the invitation of the Chief of Defense Staff, the country’s highest-ranking military official, and arrived in Africa on May 10 for the official three-day stay. The visit is significant as their first international tour since stepping back from their royal roles in 2020, and PEOPLE’s chief foreign correspondent Simon Perry exclusively joined the trip to Nigeria. The busy itinerary highlighted the Invictus Games, which Prince Harry founded in 2014 as a vehicle for healing for wounded, injured and sick service personnel through adaptive sport. Harry and Meghan made the trip following Nigeria’s event debut at the latest iteration of the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, Germany in September 2023, and the Minister of Defense has expressed interest in hosting the Games in the future.
The Duke and Duchess’ trip kicked off in Abuja and concludes in Lagos on May 12 with a basketball clinic from charity Giants of Africa, a cultural reception at the State Governor House and a polo fundraiser for Nigeria: Unconquered. Ending the stay in Lagos also calls back to Princess Diana and King Charles’ trip to Nigeria, as they visited the city in 1990.
Source: People, The Mirror, Express
