Prince William admits ‘difficult’ walk with Prince Harry
The Prince of Wales has revealed the pain of reuniting with his brother to walk behind the Queen’s coffin, as they had 25 years earlier at the funeral of Princess Diana. Watch the video.
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Prince William said walking side-by-side with Prince Harry evoked heartbreaking memories of walking together behind Princess Diana’s coffin in 1997.
While looking at flowers at Norfolk estate, the Prince of Wales described to crowd member Jane Wells the pain of walking beside his brother from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall a day earlier.
“Doing the walk yesterday was challenging, it brought back a few memories...it’s kind of one of these moments where you think to yourself ‘I’ve prepared myself for this but I’m not that prepared’ ... its this weird kinda of thing ... because we knew she was 96,” Prince William told Ms Wells.
Royal commentators described his words as both startling and authentic, and said revealing such raw and honest thoughts would earn him greater respect and admiration.
“He told us it had been particularly difficult and following the coffin had reminded him of his mother’s funeral, of Diana,” Ms Wells said.
“He said it had been very difficult.”
Prince William and Prince Harry were aged 15 and 12 when they famously walked together behind the coffin of their mother to Westminster Abbey.
They will make the same walk again when they follow the coffin of their grandmother for her funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday.
Now aged 40 and 38, the walk of grief had the added challenge of the estranged brothers reconnecting amid continuing tensions between the pair and their wives, Princess Catherine and Meghan Markle.
Following the Queen’s death, the so-called “fab four” reunited in public for the first time in years following Sussex’s resignation from the royal family to live in the United States.
While viewing flowers and tributes at Sandringham on Thursday, both Prince William and his wife Princess Catherine told wellwishers they were on the brink of tears.
“Don’t cry now – you’ll start me,” Prince William told one person in the crowd, before telling another. “I’m learning that she was everyone’s grandmother – the way people have reacted.”
Thousands travelled Sandringham House in Norfolk to lay flowers and pay respects by the Norwich Gates since the Queen died.
Speaking to the crowd of gathered mourners, the King said he was not ready for his intense grief following the Queen’s death.
“Doing the walk yesterday was challenging, it brought back a few memories,” he said.
“It’s one of these moments where you kinda think to yourself I’ve prepared myself for this but I’m not that prepared.
“It’s this weird kind of thing … because we knew she was 96”.
Another crowd member, Fran Morgan, said Kate made a heartbreaking admission of her own. “She said she couldn’t believe how many cards and flowers there were,” Ms Morgan said. “But she [Kate] also said ‘I can’t read them all or I would cry’.”
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