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Prince William Said He Missed Princess Diana Even More After Becoming A Father

Some of the trauma of Diana's death resurfaced for William when he became a dad, he said.
Prince Charles and Princess Diana with their son Prince William in 1983.
Hulton Deutsch via Getty Images
Prince Charles and Princess Diana with their son Prince William in 1983.

In a new documentary about mental health, Prince William got vulnerable about the loss of his mother, the late Princess Diana.

In “Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health,” which will air in the U.K. on Thursday, the Duke of Cambridge said he mourned his mother in a whole new way after he had children of his own.

“Children coming along ... is one of the most amazing moments of life, but it’s also one of the scariest,” he told former soccer player Marvin Sordell in the documentary, according to Today. “Emotionally, things come out of the blue that you don’t ever expect or that maybe you think you’ve dealt with.”

Princess Diana died in 1997, when William was 15. He’s spoken before about how difficult it was to comprehend the loss as a teenager. “At that age, it was very difficult to communicate or understand your feelings,” he told an interviewer in 2017.

Princess Diana with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry in 1995.
Anwar Hussein via Getty Images
Princess Diana with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry in 1995.

That may be part of why becoming a father brought some of that grief back, he said in the new documentary.

“When you’ve been through something traumatic in life, that is, your dad not being around, my mother dying when I was younger, your emotions come back in leaps and bounds because it’s a very different phase of life, and there’s no one there to kind of help you.”

William became a dad nearly seven years ago, at age 31, with the birth of his eldest son Prince George. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are also the parents of Princess Charlotte, 5, and Prince Louis, 2.

Parenting three kids without his mom around can sometimes be “overwhelming,” he said. But he added that he and Kate Middleton are patient with each other’s shortcomings.

“Me and Catherine, we support each other, and we go through those moments together, and we evolve and learn together.”

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