Footage of Princess Diana describing her two sons, Prince Harry and Prince William, as “naughty” while on a humanitarian visit just weeks before her untimely death has gone viral, as the 26th anniversary of her death will be marked on August 31.
Diana undertook a number of humanitarian visits in the final years of her life, including several connected with her international campaign to eliminate the manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines.
In January 1997, the princess paid a famous visit to Angola where she was photographed walking through a live minefield and during which she made a documentary film for British TV. After the success of this trip, the royal made another visit to Bosnia from August 8 to 10. The royal would go on to lose her life just weeks later from injuries sustained in a Paris car crash on August 31.
Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images/Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images
Uploaded to TikTok by user remembering.diana, on August 20, footage of Diana’s visit to two young landmine victims during her tour of Bosnia has been viewed over 400,000 times so far.
Shown interacting through an interpreter, the princess was told that the youngsters’ parents were “very happy to hear that you have beautiful sons as well.”
To this, Diana jokingly responded: “They keep me on my toes!”
“They’re quite naughty,” she added of William, who was at the time 15, and Harry, who was 12.
The viral clip has received in excess of 17,000 likes so far, and numerous comments, many of which have praised the princess and the opportunity to hear her speak.
“RIP People’s Princess,” wrote one TikTok user, referring to the moniker attributed to her by British Prime Minister Tony Blair after her death.
“That unmistakable and iconic voice,” wrote another, with a further comment reading: “Beautiful lady.”
The princess had planned to continue her work with a visit to Cambodia and Vietnam in October 1997 that she was never able to fulfil.
Diana’s work with landmines has been taken up by Prince Harry who, in his 2023 memoir, recalled how taking up her cause has made him feel closer to her.
Writing about a visit he made to the minefields in Angola in 2013, he told readers that: “This had been Mummy’s most passionate cause at the end. (She’d gone to Bosnia three weeks before she’d gone to Paris in August 1997.)
“Many could still remember her walking alone into a live minefield, detonating a mine via remote control, announcing bravely: One down, seventeen million to go. Her vision of a world rid of land mines seemed within reach back then. Now the world was going backwards.
“Taking up her cause, detonating a land mine myself, made me feel closer to her, and gave me strength, and hope,” he said and has continued to work with the Halo Trust charity to this day.
There are no plans to officially mark the 26th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death, however, each year floral tributes are still left by fans outside the gates of her former home at Kensington Palace which became a focus of national mourning after the events of 1997.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek’s royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek’s The Royals Facebook page.
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