Princes William and Harry recall their last words with Princess Diana
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The Royal Family
(FILES) Princess Diana (L), Prince Harry, (C) and Prince William (R) gather for the commemorations of VJ Day, 19 August 1995, in London. Prince William turned 25 Thursday 21 June 2007, and in doing so became entitled to part of the multi-million pound (euro, dollar) inheritance left to him by his late mother, princess Diana. The second in line to the throne is now allowed access to the income accrued on the 6.5 million pounds he was left in his mother's will after she died 10 years ago in a car crash in Paris. AFP PHOTO/JOHNNY EGGITT/FILES (Photo credit should read JOHNNY EGGITT/AFP/Getty Images)
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Prince William says he was in a hurry to get off the phone to go play
"I do remember ... regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was," Harry says
CNN
—
Prince William and Prince Harry have spoken of their regret at the brevity of their final phone call with their mother, Princess Diana, just hours before her 1997 death in a car crash in Paris.
In a new documentary set to release on Monday by ITV in Great Britain and HBO in the United States, Prince Harry recalls how quickly he got off the phone with his mother.
The two brothers were at Balmoral Castle in Scotland when Diana called from Paris.
“I can’t necessarily remember what I said, but all I do remember is regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was,” Harry told ITV.
Diana, Princess of Wales, on holiday with Prince Harry.
AFP PHOTO / DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE AND PRINCE HARRY / KENSINGTON PALACE
“If I’d known that that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother, the things I would have said to her,” he said. “Looking back at it now – it’s incredibly hard. I have to deal with that for the rest of my life: not knowing that it was the last time I’d speak to my mum, how differently that conversation would have panned out if I’d had even the slightest inkling that her life was going to be taken that night.”
In the documentary, Prince William said he and his brother had been “running around, minding our own business, playing with our cousins and having a very good time” and were in a rush to say “goodbye, see you later, can I go off?”
“If I’d known what was going to happen I wouldn’t have been quite so blasé about it,” the Duke of Cambridge said. “That phone call sticks in my mind quite heavily.”
‘Kid through and through’
Diana, Princess of Wales, holding Prince William while pregnant with Prince Harry.
AFP PHOTO / DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE AND PRINCE HARRY / KENSINGTON PALACE
The ITV documentary, “Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy,” celebrates the life and work of Diana, Princess of Wales, in the 20th year since her death, according to a press release by the network.
The Duke of Cambridge said the time felt right to talk about their mother.
“There’s not many days that go by that I don’t think of her. Her 20th anniversary year feels like a good time to … remember, you know, all the good things about her and hopefully provide maybe a different side to her that others haven’t seen before,” he said.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Terence Donovan/Camera Press/Redux
Princess Diana remains a beloved figure more than 20 years after her untimely death. See more photos of the British icon and the legacy she left behind.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Diana, seen here on her first birthday, was born Diana Frances Spencer on July 1, 1961. She was born into a noble family in Sandringham, England. Her father, John, was Viscount Althorp before becoming the 8th Earl Spencer in 1975.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Central Press/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images
Diana circa 1965. Growing up, she attended private schools in England and Switzerland.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Anonymous/AP
Diana poses with her brother, Charles, in 1968. She also had two sisters, Sarah and Jane.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Keystone/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images
Diana, far right, is photographed with her father, John, and her three siblings circa 1970. Sarah is on the far left and Jane is next to Diana. When Diana was 7 years old, her parents divorced and her father was given custody of the children.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A teenage Diana receives a "kiss" from her pony, Scuffle, in 1974. A year later, she became Lady Diana after her grandfather died and her father became the 8th Earl Spencer.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
After finishing school, Diana worked various jobs, including cook, nanny and kindergarten teacher. Here she is in 1980 with two children she looked after as a nanny.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Express Newspapers/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Diana and Camilla Parker-Bowles visit the Ludlow racecourse in October 1980, where Prince Charles was competing as a jockey. Diana and Charles would be engaged just a few months later. Prince Charles admitted in 1994 to a relationship with Parker-Bowles while still married to Diana; Charles and Camilla wed in 2005.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Tom Stoddart Archive/Premium Archive/Getty Images
Diana looks startled after stalling her new car outside her London apartment in November 1980.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Ian Tyas/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images
Diana is surrounded by photographers shortly before it was announced that she was engaged to Prince Charles.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Hulton Deutsch/Corbis Historical/Getty Images
Diana and Charles pose at Buckingham Palace after the announcement of their engagement on February 24, 1981.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
PA/AP
Diana and Charles arrive at Goldsmith Hall in London for a charity recital in March 1981.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
The couple poses with Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in March 1981.
The royal wedding was held July 29, 1981, at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It was estimated that more than 700 million people watched the ceremony on television.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Tim Graham/Getty Images
Charles and Diana kiss on the Buckingham Palace balcony after being married.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Tim Graham/Getty Images
During their honeymoon, Charles and Diana leave Gibraltar on the royal yacht Britannia.
Diana attends a polo match that her husband played in Palm Beach, Florida, in November 1985.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Anwar Hussein/WireImage/WireImage
Diana dances with actor John Travolta at the White House in November 1985. Dancing behind Travolta are US President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan. A few years ago, Diana's blue velvet dress -- nicknamed the "Travolta dress" -- was auctioned for 240,000 British pounds ($362,424 US).
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Tim Graham/Getty Images
Diana holds up Harry in the garden of Highgrove House, a royal residence in Gloucestershire, England, in July 1986.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Tim Graham/Getty Images
William rides a miniature pony at Highgrove House.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Steve Holland/AP
Prince Harry shows a bit of his personality on the Buckingham Palace balcony in June 1988.
Diana and her two boys walk outside the Wetherby School in London in April 1990.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Tim Graham/Getty Images
Diana and her sons go skiing in Lech, Austria, in April 1991.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Tim Graham/Getty Images
Diana and Charles sit together during a royal tour of Toronto in October 1991.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Tim Graham/Getty Images
Diana visits Egypt in May 1992.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
PA/AP
Charles and Diana attend a memorial service during a tour of South Korea in November 1992. A month later, it was announced that they had formally separated.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Julian Parker/UK Press/Getty Images
Diana and her sons visit Thorpe Park, a theme park in Surrey, England, in April 1993.
Diana arrives at the Serpentine Gallery in London in June 1994.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Martin Godwin/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A police officer holds back a photographer as Diana walks by in July 1996. It had just been announced that Diana and Charles had divorced.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
JOAO SILVA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Diana talks to amputees in Angola, where she traveled in January 1997 to bring attention to the anti-land mine campaign of the International Red Cross. Sitting on her lap is Sandra Thijica, a 13-year-old who lost her left leg to a land mine.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Antonio Cotrim/EPA/Redux
Diana wears protective gear as she visits minefields in Angola in January 1997.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Premium Archive/Gallo Images/Getty Images
Diana visits Cape Town, South Africa, and meets with South African President Nelson Mandela in March 1997.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
Diana holds hands with Mother Teresa after they met in New York in June 1997.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Handout/PA Wire/PA Photos/AP
This photo, taken from surveillance video, shows Diana arriving at the Ritz Hotel in Paris on August 30, 1997. It is one of the last photos of her alive.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
PA Wire/PA Photos/AP
Diana is seen in a Ritz Hotel elevator with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. After leaving the hotel, the couple was killed in a high-speed car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
PIERRE BOUSSEL/AFP/Getty Images
Wreckage is lifted away after the car Diana was in crashed into a pillar on August 31, 1997. Fayed and driver Henri Paul died at the scene. Diana died at a Paris hospital a few hours later. A French investigation concluded that Paul was legally drunk at the time and responsible for the accident. In 2008, a British coroner's jury found that Diana and Fayed were unlawfully killed because of the actions of Paul and pursuing paparazzi.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
Rex Features/Shutterstock
On the eve of Diana's funeral, the Queen and Prince Philip look at floral tributes left outside Buckingham Palace. More than 1 million bouquets of flowers were left at Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace and St. James's Palace in the wake of Diana's death.
Photos: Princess Diana: Her life and legacy
JOHN GAPS III/AP POOL/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Diana's coffin is carried into London's Westminster Cathedral in September 1997. Watching at the bottom, from left, is Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Charles Spencer, Prince William and Prince Philip.
While looking through an old photo album during the documentary, the princes recall some of the most joyful moments from their childhood. Prince Harry said Diana was a “kid through and through.”
“When everybody says to me, you know, so she was fun, give us an example … all I can hear is her laugh in my head. And that sort of crazy laugh of where there was just pure happiness shown on her face.”
The brothers told the documentary makers that their mother made them feel loved.
“We felt, you know, incredibly loved, Harry and I … and I’m very grateful that that love still – still feels there,” Prince William said.
His brother added: “It was that love that – that even if she was on the other side of a room … that you, as a son, you could feel it.”
Princes William and Harry said their last conversation with their mother, Princess Diana, had been brief.
AFP PHOTO / DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE AND PRINCE HARRY / KENSINGTON PALACE
Prince William also shared a story about when Diana surprised him with a meeting with his favorite supermodels.
She had arranged “when I came home from school to have Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell waiting at the top of the stairs,” Prince William said.
“I was probably 12 or 13-year-old boy who had posters of them on his wall. And I went bright red and didn’t quite know what to say and sort of fumbled, and I think I pretty much fell down the stairs on the way up.”
“Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy” will air Monday at 9 p.m. on ITV in the UK and at 10 p.m. ET on HBO in the US.
