Prince William has spoken of the "emptiness" he feels each Mother's Day. This was in a speech on his appointment as patron of the Child Bereavement Charity, according to a report by Jon Swaine in The Daily Telegraph, London, on 13 March. The occasion was a lunch of the charity’s 'Remember on Mother's Day' campaign which hopes to raise awareness of the problems faced by mothers bereaved of a child or children bereaved of their mother.
Travelling at the time, I first saw the story in a newspaper in Santiago in Chile. The newspaper, La Tercera, published the report prominently with two photos, one of the Princes with her sons, the other a recent one of the Prince. The report carried none of the snide innuendo we sometimes see in London and Australia.
The same newspaper had a prominent report on Prince Charles’ visit to Chile as part of his mission across Latin America on sustainable development and climate change. The story was accompanied by five photographs from the meeting. Again, this was an objective news report.
When I was going to my hotel in Rio, we passed another hotel. The tour guide was obviously proud to recount that Prince Charles had stayed there recently. Going around the city of Rio de Janeiro I found an attractive street on the seaside named in honour of Diana Princess of Wales.
At the lunch in London, Prince William, recalling that his mother was present at their launch 15 years ago, said “ … today I am incredibly proud to be able to continue her support for your fantastic charity, by becoming your royal patron.”
"Never being able to say the word 'Mummy' again in your life sounds like a small thing. However, for many, including me, it's now really just a word – hollow and evoking only memories."
The Prince continued: "I can … wholeheartedly relate to the Mother's Day campaign as I too have felt – and still feel – the emptiness on such a day as Mother's Day."
Few will forget the tragic death of Diana Princess of Wales on 31 August 1997, after a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris as the driver was attempting to elude journalists. The Mercedes-Benz in which she was travelling crashed into one of pillars of the tunnel. Surprisingly, there were no metal barriers in front of the pillars to prevent this.
One touching scene at the funeral was Prince William and a very small Prince Harry walking behind her casket along with their father, Prince Charles, and grandfather, Prince Philip together with Diana's brother, Earl Spencer.
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There was a great out pouring of public grief at the time of the funeral. But at the same time a section of the British press quite viciously initiated one of their most cynical campaigns, no doubt to distract attention away from their own involvement with the paparazzi.
This was to turn the blame on The Queen for such matters as the flying of a flag at the Palace or keeping the Princes in Scotland until close to the funeral.
Those journalists concerned did not of course have the interests of the Princes at heart; they wanted the public to forget their massive and unforgivable invasions of privacy and the malicious stories they had concocted over the years. There own agenda related to boosting their circulations while doing their best to destroy our ancient institutions.
Their subsequent attempts to drive a wedge between the Princes and their father and Camilla failed miserably.
Today their clear purpose is to damage each of the Princes. That two are young men serving in the armed forces, and undertaking superbly effective charitable work does not seem to have any bearing on this.
The latest mischief was to turn a two year old piece of young soldier’s playful and indeed affectionate banter into a mortal sin. It is not so long ago that the media published old photos of Prince Harry as if they were recent, with the malicious intention of creating a rift with his lady friend. When such stories are published they go around the world. The subsequent corrections are rarely seen, and often not even mentioned.
How do they get away with it?