Princess Diana's Quotes About Motherhood Prove She Was Devoted To Her Sons

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting their first baby together any day now. Royal watchers are speculating about the sex of the baby, the date of arrival, the name... all of those exciting details about a new life coming into this world. But that doesn't mean this new baby's arrival isn't tinged with a touch of sadness for one big reason; the grandmother he or she will never meet. Princess Diana's death continues to hang over every big milestone in the lives of her sons, and I think that's natural. Because Princess Diana's quotes about motherhood prove she was devoted to her boys, and it shows in the men they've both become.

Princess Diana died on Aug. 31, 1997 in a car crash in Paris when her sons were just 15 and 12 years old respectively. It was a horribly sad time for millions of people around the world who adored "The People's Princess," as she was often called, but of course no one was sadder than her young sons. She was a loving, affectionate mother to her sons despite struggling with a tumultuous relationship with the royal family following her divorce from Prince Charles in 1996. And that clear love managed to imprint on her sons to this very day for several reasons.

She Was A Big Fan Of Hugging

Prior to Princess Diana's existence in the royal family, they weren't exactly known as a demonstrative bunch. In fact, once Queen Elizabeth came back from a long royal visit abroad when Prince Charles was a young boy she infamously shook her son's hand by way of greeting. This was not the case for Princess Diana who said in 1992, as per YouTube:

Hugging has no harmful side effects. If we all play our part in making our children feel valued, the result will be tremendous. There are potential huggers in every household.

That Sibling Bond

As a mother, Princess Diana said in 1995 during a speech that it was important for her to see her sons form a close relationship especially considering their future roles in the royal family, as per the BBC:

I came from a family where there were four of us, so we had enormous fun there. And then William and Harry arrived — fortunately two boys, it would have been a little tricky if it had been two girls — but that in itself brings the responsibilities of bringing them up, William's future being as it is, and Harry like a form of a back-up in that aspect.

Empathy For Everyone

Princess Diana was known all over the world for her humanitarian work, and she noted in 1995 that she wanted her sons, who were born into lives of extreme privilege, to have empathy for people from all walks of life, as per Thought Co.:

I want them to have an understanding of people's emotions, people's insecurities, people's distress, and people's hopes and dreams.

Shedding Light On Postpartum Depression

Parenting wasn't all sunshine and light for Princess Diana; after Prince William's birth in 1982 she suffered from postpartum depression. She described it in an interview for her biography in 1992, as per People, saying:

Then I was unwell with postnatal depression, which no one ever discusses, postnatal depression, you have to read about it afterwards, and that in itself was a bit of a difficult time. You’d wake up in the morning feeling you didn’t want to get out of bed, you felt misunderstood, and just very, very low in yourself ... People see it as crying wolf or attention-seeking, and they think because you’re in the media all the time you’ve got enough attention, inverted commas. But I was actually crying out because I wanted to get better in order to go forward and continue my duty and my role as wife, mother, Princess of Wales.

She managed to get through it, however, and admitted in 1995, as per Huffington Post:

I live for my sons. I would be lost without them.

It's sad to this day to realize Princess Diana was never able to watch her sons grow to become men, but at least her positive, loving influence is felt to this day.