It has been nearly 18 years since Princess Diana’s untimely death in 1997, and her sons Prince Harry and Prince William are definitely living up to her legacy. While Prince William has started a family with Princess Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and has taken on some of the same charitable responsibilities that his mother had, Prince Harry has continued the Princess of Wales’ charity work in Africa.
It is clear that both princes are striving to live as normal lives as they possibly can, given the status they were born into. Prince Harry has been dubbed “one of the Joes” by Invictus Games competitor Christopher Self. The Invictus Games were founded by Prince Harry as a way to allow injured military vets to compete on the sports battlefield in a variety of events and held their inaugural event in 2014. The 2016 Invictus Games are being held in Florida.
In addition, Prince Harry has also shown he is a doting uncle, in spite of his constant travel schedule. He took to his Twitter account early in the morning July 22 to wish his nephew Prince George a happy second birthday. Prince Harry has also admitted that he and Prince William banter back and forth constantly to keep each other grounded, and he doesn’t seem to miss an opportunity to tease his older brother. Princess Diana also was known for her usual good humor.
#NationalSiblingsDay #SiblingsDay he may be ahead of me for the throne but I still love him @HRH_WW
— Henry Mountbatten-Windsor (DOS) (@HW_HRH) April 12, 2015
Prince Harry and Prince William have also shown that their mother is never very far from their thoughts. In 2007, to mark 10 years since their mother’s passing, the brothers held the Concert For Diana, featuring some of their mother’s favorite groups, including Duran Duran and Elton John. Prince Harry has also founded his own African charity, Sentebale , designed to help those in the impoverished African nation of Lesotho. Prince William has spoken of Prince Harry ‘s work with the charity, saying he believes their mother would be “really chuffed” about her youngest son’s efforts to help those out.
Prince William also famously gave then-fiancee Catherine Middleton the same 12-carat blue sapphire engagement ring that was his mother’s as a way of keeping her memory alive during the run-up to his nuptials. Prince William is also president of the Royal Marsden Hospital Trust, as his mother was.
While Prince William now has two children of his own and has demonstrated his love of children at every place he tours with his family or on his own, Prince Harry seems to also share his mother’s magic touch with kids. The younger prince is often photographed talking and laughing with children, and it seems that he has also felt the pull to have children, though he admits there’s a process to go through before that happens.
For the most part, though, Prince Harry and Prince William are content to try and live fairly normal lives in spite of their royal lineage. To that end, Prince Harry mentioned earlier this year that the royal brothers have felt they need to work alongside everyone else to earn their way. “In the future, from our point of view, if we want to make a big contribution, or a valid contribution and be taken seriously, then we need to work alongside other people,” he said.
No doubt Princess Diana would be proud of her boys, Prince Harry and Prince William.
(Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)