Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton might have never met Princess Diana in person but a royal analyst thinks these royal women, along with their husbands, Prince Harry and Prince William, have been living in the shadow of the People's Princess. They have been using public displays of emotions in how they carry out their work and deal with the press, similar to Princess Diana.
According to Princess Diana's former private secretary, Patrick Jephson, the princes and their wives are trying to walk their own paths as grown men and future leaders of the British monarchy. However, their approaches to their work and relations with the media are a lot similar to their mother's style.
Touring to visit various charities are hard work for the royals because they have to earn tangible benefits that satisfy the interest of the British. The objective of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan's recent South African tour, and Prince William and Duchess Kate's Pakistan tour, is "to win hearts and minds," Jephson said. To do this, the Cambridge and the Sussex royals need to display their feelings in public.
Such a strategy, which Princess Diana has mastered for years, has its tricky side though. As Jephson pointed out, the public reaction to these raw emotions can be unpredictable. Some might find this endearing, mockable or downright worrying, depending on which side of the situation they are looking at.
But Jephson also said that there are some differences to Prince William and Prince Harry's even if they are using the same tactics as their mother's in winning people's hearts. In Pakistan, Prince William didn't show any tears when talking to a little boy about his mother. Instead, he covered up what would have been a sad instant with good natured words by telling the boy he was also a big fan of his mom. Jephson analyzed that Prince William might be better at understanding "that emotion makes a good servant but a poor master."
Prince Harry, on the other hand, was in tears while he talked about fatherhood in a recent awards ceremony. The legal battles with the press, where he supposedly didn't consult his father, brother or royal aides and announced in the middle of their South African tour, form part of Prince Harry's behavior as someone who lives his life by his instincts and not by royal protocols.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry acknowledged in a recent interview that he and his brother are "certainly on different paths" these days. Their wives and their growing family all the more make it impossible for Princess Diana's sons to spend more time together but Prince Harry said he loves his brother dearly and he knows that they will always be there for each other.
