Prince Harry Shares the Sweet Thing Princess Diana Secretly Gave Him and Prince William at Soccer Games
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has sweet childhood memories. Literally.
In the documentary, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, Prince Harry and Prince William both spoke about their late mother for the first time. The program’s release coincided with the 20 year anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in 1997.
While discussing his mother, Princess Diana or the People’s Princess, Prince Harry reminisced on a happy memory he had of his mother. He revealed she used to sneak him candy — Starburst to be exact — at his “football” or soccer games as a kid.
Prince Harry recalled seeing his mother at games when she would discretely hand out Starburst that he’d end up stuffing in his socks and jersey.
Looking back on the fond memory, Prince Harry said “us” meaning what we assume to be him and his older brother, Prince William, so both princes received candy from their mother at soccer games.
“She would come and watch us play football and smuggle sweets into our socks. I mean, like, literally [I would be] walking back from the football match with…five packets of Starburst. And just the whole shirt was just bulging with sweets,” he said.
Now 34 years old, Prince Harry fondly remembered unloading his haul of sweets from his mother with no one around. “And then I’d start looking around [he turns his head left and right], open the top box, throw it all in, lock it up.”
Prince Harry’s memory of his mother highlighted the person her sons knew her as, not her public perception.
“Behind closed doors, she was a loving mother and an incredibly funny person,” the duke said of his mother.
He also revealed Diana had a saying she preached to him.
“One of her mottos to me was, ‘You can be as naughty as you want, just don’t get caught,’” Prince Harry said.
He added she behaved like a kid herself, which is evident in the video footage and photographs of Princess Diana, Prince William, and Prince Harry at Thorpe Park.
Princess Diana made sure Prince William and Prince Harry had a ‘normal life’
Their mother “was a total kid through and through” and “one of the naughtiest parents,” who made sure her children had a sense of normalcy in their lives.
Learn what naughty thing Princess Diana used to send to Prince William while he attended school, here.
“My mother cherished those moments of privacy and being able to be that mother rather than the Princess of Wales. She made the decision that no matter what, despite all the difficulties of growing up in that limelight and on that stage, she was going to ensure that both of us had as normal life as possible,” Prince Harry said.
He then shared examples of what Princess Diana did to make life more normal.
“And if that means taking us for a burger every now and then or sneaking us into the cinema, or driving through the country lanes with the roof down in her old school BMW to listen to Enya I think it was…part of her being a mom,” he said.
Prince Harry and Prince William’s childhoods took a dark turn when Prince Charles and Princess Diana separated in 1992. And when they divorced in 1996, the boys were “bouncing between the two of them.” One year later their mother died in a tragic car accident in Paris, France, on August 31, 1997.
But through it all, their mother remained and still is, an important figure in the lives of Prince Harry and Prince William, whom they hold in high esteem.
“She was our mom, she still is our mom you know and of course as a son I would say she is the best mom in the world,” Prince Harry said.
Let’s hope Prince Harry and Prince William will follow in their mother’s footsteps and secretly share sweets with their children after their sporting events.
