Princess Diana would've been 'sympathetic’ towards Prince Harry's decision to leave, says James Patterson
LONDON, UK: Amid the rift between Prince William and Prince Harry, author-biographer James Patterson says this would have really made Princess Diana sad, because both the brothers were very close as kids. However, the 75-year-old biographer believes that she would've respected both sides. "I think she would've been very sympathetic, totally sympathetic, for what Harry did, but I think she would've understood Will's path as well," he said.
As ‘Diana, William, & Harry’ got published on August 15, a book that narrates the life of Diana as a mother, Patterson spoke to ET in an exclusive interview about how Diana, if she would been alive, would feel about the present situation of her sons' relationship. He said, “I think she would be saddened by the break with the two boys. I think that would really make her sad, because they had been so very close as kids, and then... Will obviously deciding [that he] must stay with tradition, and the crown, and the royals, and then Harry making the break."
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William and Harry were 15 and 12, when Diana died in a car accident in 1997. They were intially close but started drifting apart with time. As per US Magazine, the rumors started in 2018 when Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, decided to move away from Nottingham Cottage in London to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, England. It got worse in 2020 when Harry and Markle decided to step down as senior royals.
Patterson says Diana, who got divorced from Prince Charles in 1996, "would've respected both sides." He said, "I don't think she looked at the tradition of the royal family and said it's a bad thing. Just the way it operated with her, I think it just didn't fit her at all. It was very difficult. She's a free spirit. That's very, very tough. I think she would've been very sympathetic, totally sympathetic, for what Harry did, but I think she would've understood Will's path as well. She was that kind of person. She wasn't terribly judgmental." Patterson also added that he "would be surprised if they didn't at some point get close again."
Talking more about Diana, the biographer said, "She wanted the boys to be somewhat regular. She wanted them to understand that their existence was very strange and weird and unusual. In so far she could, she wanted them to grow up as normal kids. I think she wanted to have a normal life too, which just wasn't possible in the royal family."