Prince Harry and Prince William have been both vocal and vulnerable lately talking about the life and death of their mother, Princess Diana.
A new documentary from BBC One, titled “Diana, 7 Days,” provides the most intimate look yet into the boys’ thoughts and experiences at the time. Premiering Sunday, it marks 20 years since Diana’s death.
In one preview clip, Harry reveals it was their father, Prince Charles, who gave them the news their mother had been killed in a car accident in Paris.
“One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died,” Harry said. “How you deal with that I don’t know but, you know, he was there for us.”
Harry and William praise both their father and grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, for the way they handled the days following Diana’s death. The queen, who remained in Balmoral with the two boys for days, shielded them by removing newspapers and remaining behind closed doors save for a trip to church the following morning.
She consequently received considerable public backlash for not soon appearing in London, which had become the center of considerable public mourning, and not addressing the public for six days.
“I think it was a very hard decision for my grandmother to make, she felt very torn between being the grandmother to William and Harry and her Queen role,” William said. “And I think she, you know again like I said, everyone was surprised and taken aback by the scale of what happened and the nature of how quickly it all happened, plus the fact, you know, [Diana] was or had been challenging the royal family for many years beforehand.”
Another point of contention involved the decision to have the boys ― just 12 and 15 at the time ― walk with Diana’s funeral procession through London. Harry has previously said no child should ever be asked to do something like that, but in the new documentary, he said he doesn’t have an opinion on whether it was right or wrong but he is glad to have done it.
William also said that walking with his mother’s coffin was one of the hardest things he’s ever done. “I felt like she was almost walking along beside us, to get through it,” he said in the trailer.
The documentary will also feature interviews with former Prime Minister Tony Blair, along with Diana’s siblings. It premieres on BBC One on Aug. 27.