Princess Diana died in a car crash nearly 17 years ago, but the life and legacy of the “People’s Princess” still has a strong influence over her son Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton.
Amid reports that Kate is pregnant again with her second child, it seems that Prince William and the royal family are taking in the lessons from Diana’s death. The 1997 car crash that took Diana’s life was caused when an overzealous paparazzi chased her car, a tragic end for a princess who was constantly hounded by tabloid media.
William appears determined not to let his wife suffer the same fate. Reports stating that Kate Middleton is pregnant again have indicated that the couple will be moving out of their busy Kensington Palace apartment in favor of a quieter setting at Anmer Hall .
The Daily Mail reported that Prince William chose the rural setting to raise his family because he wants his kids to have the same “carefree, rural childhood” that he had, but sources say he also wants his wife to avoid the media crush that Princess Diana always faced.
Many believe Princess Diana has already played a strong role in Kate Middleton’s treatment. A recent report indicated that after an embarrassing incident in which a photographer snapped a picture of her bare bottom while entering a helicopter, Kate Middleton was reportedly assigned a “female minder” to avoid further incidents.
The situations was strikingly similar to one Princess Diana faced in 1980, when a she posed with children at a nursery school in a photo. Diana wore a sun dress in the picture, which when backlit by sunlight showed a clear outline of her legs.
Prince William has already been known to be extra protective of his wife, due largely to the fate of his late mother. In 2012, he and Kate took legal action against a French tabloid that published topless photos of Middleton taken while she was vacationing, and in doing so referenced Princess Diana.
The couple issued a statement that read in part : “This is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the paparazzi during Diana’s life and the more upsetting to the duke and duchess for being so.”
Princess Diana appears to be influencing Kate Middleton and Prince William in other ways as well. Reports this week indicated that Kate’s second baby will be a girl, and that the couple will name her Diana in honor of William’s late mother.