An Elderly Woman Was Too 'Ill' to Meet Prince William — Then He Pulled a ‘Classic Diana Move’
Prince William was just 15 when he tragically lost his mother, Princess Diana, in a car accident in August 1977. Since that harrowing ordeal, the Prince of Wales has pledged to carry forward his late mother’s legacy of service and compassion. Reflecting on the various ways William embodies Diana’s spirit, royal author Tina Brown recalled an incident involving an elderly woman. When the woman was unwell, William personally visited and cared for her, echoing his mother’s humility and empathy at public events.
In her book, The Palace Papers, Brown wrote about a charity gala dinner in 2016, which William and Kate Middleton attended. She penned, "At a charity dinner supporting the hospices at Houghton in 2016, the room was divided into small groups to meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who chatted to each guest with synchronized informal expertise." She claimed that after the dinner, someone mentioned to William that an elderly hospice donor who was housed in her room was too ill to make it. In response, William reportedly asked, "Is there any chance somebody could make a pot of tea and put some biscuits on a plate?"
William, then, in a sweet gesture, reportedly knocked on the old woman’s door to give her the snacks. He told her, "I know that you were too ill to come to dinner, and I thought I'd bring you a cup of tea to say thank you very much for supporting the hospices." Brown revealed that the lady was 'over the moon’ to see the Prince and that his gesture showed the imagination and empathy of his mother. "It was a classic Diana Spencer move, just natural, gentle human kindness, and had much more effect than a grand act. We all thought... he learned something from his mom."
Echoing Brown’s account of William’s love for his mother’s values, royal author Gyles Brandreth wrote in his 2021 book, Philip The Final Portrait, "I have watched him at close range – at Highgrove, on the polo field, on the streets and in the crowd. He shows concern and empathy, in the way Diana did, but without those touches of self-consciousness and self-absorption that her manner sometimes suggested." Indeed, the Prince has committed his life to honoring Diana’s love for charity, including tackling homelessness — a cause close to his mother’s heart.
William’s sweet gesture toward the elderly woman isn't the only incident where he mirrored his late mother’s humbleness. During a 2022 visit to the Wheatley Group to hear about the challenges of homelessness, the Prince spotted William Burns, looking visibly emotional. When William approached Burns to hear about his struggles, he was overwhelmed when the elderly man opened up about the death of his wife. Soon after, he ripped up the royal rulebook and hugged Burns as he cried on his shoulder. Like William, Diana was not afraid to be tactile with the public, even avoiding gloves against protocol to have a personal connection with those she met.