Raising Royalty: Diana's Unforgettable Bond with William and Harry

See the special bond shared between the Princess of Wales and her boys, William and Harry
By Julia Wang
Updated August 28, 2015 05:00 PM

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A PICNIC IN THE PARK

Credit: Tim Graham/Getty Images

At just 10 months old, William and the full attention of his adoring mother (here, on a trip to New Zealand in 1983). Of learning that her firstborn was to be a boy, Diana told the BBC in a 1995 interview that it was an "enormous relief."

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HEIR AND HEIR ALIKE

Credit: Tim Graham/AP Photo

Diana helps her matching towheaded sons William, then 4, and Harry, then nearly 2, navigate a safe landing at the Aberdeen Airport, where the family headed for a summer vacation in 1986.

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BIRTHDAY HIGH JINKS

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At the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony in 1988, which marks Queen Elizabeth's official birthday (June 11), William, 5, smiled at the crowd while 3-year-old Harry stuck out his tongue – to mom Diana's chagrin – at the fans surrounding Buckingham Palace.

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HARRY'S FIRST DAY

Credit: Tim Graham/AP Photo

Joining big brother Wills, then 7, an excited Harry, then almost 5, is dropped off on his first day at pre-prep school Wetherby by Diana on September 11, 1989.

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LIFE'S A BEACH

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It's a sandy pile-up for Diana as she gets in on the fun with Wills, then 7, and Harry, then 5, and her nephews during a 1990 New Year's getaway with her mother, Frances Shand-Kydd, on Necker Island, Sir Richard Branson's private hideaway in the British Virgin Islands.

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NORTH COUNTRY

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During the Waleses' trip to Canada in October 1991, Diana made time between touring an AIds hospice and a women's shelter to join William, 9 and Harry, 7, on a visit to Niagara Falls.

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A ROYAL CARRIAGE

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With nanny Olga Powell and mom Diana, the young princes enjoy an open-sliegh ride in Lech, Austria on March 30, 1993.

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LET IT SNOW

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In March of the following year, during their pre-Easter break, William, then 11, and Harry, then 9, return to the slopes in Lech, Austria with mom Dian a for a week-long ski trip that had become an annual family tradition.

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SPLASH MOUNTAIN

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Always making sure her boys balanced their royal duties with play, Diana had Harry and William bracing themselves for a thrilling – and wet! – day at Britain's most popular amusement park, Thorpe Park, in 1993.

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A MOTHER'S PRIDE

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With Harry, then 10, Diana gives William, then 13, pointers as he signs the traditional entrance book at Eton College on his first day, Sept. 6, 1995. The school was another break with royal tradition: The young prince enrolled at the venerable institution instead of the private boarding school Gordonstoun, an alma mater of his father Prince Charles and grandfather Prince Philip.

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A SUMMER TO REMEMBER

Credit: Lionel Cironneau/AP Photo

A year after her divorce (and a month-and-a-half before her sudden death), a carefree Diana spent a few idyllic days in July 1997 vacationing with Harry, 12, and William, 15 in Saint-Tropez – at the invitation of her new love interest Dodi Fayed's father.

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By Julia Wang