• There are some areas in which Princess Diana and Kate Middleton “could not be further apart,” but royal biographer Ingrid Seward said they have one “main link.”

• It’s not Prince William—Diana’s son and Kate’s husband—or their shared Princess of Wales title, but rather their mutual love of children, Seward explained.

• Seward is the author of the new book Catherine and Diana: The Inside Story of How the Princesses of Wales Shaped the Modern Monarchy.

Princess Diana and Kate Middleton share a royal title—the Princess of Wales—and are two of the most famous women in the world (and this still rings true for Diana almost 30 years after her tragic death). But, according to royal biographer Ingrid Seward, the two women have one “main link”: their mutual love of children.

“They both absolutely had—and have—a magic with children, and I think they would have talked about that,” Seward told Hello!. “Diana’s legacy is her sons and the way she changed the face of royal engagements, and Catherine has completely taken up the mantle [on that].”

Seward is the author of the forthcoming book Catherine and Diana: The Inside Story of How the Princesses of Wales Shaped the Modern Monarchy, and noted that the two women “both love fashion.”

“When I first met Catherine, it was at a polo match, and they had all these beautiful clothes for sale and she was really digging into those,” Seward said. “She and Diana both loved clothes and they both looked completely stunning in them.”

“Both fashion icons, both beauties in their different styles, both, when they married, counted among the most famous women on the planet,” Seward added of their similarities. As Princess of Wales, the two women are not just “acting as a decorative accessory” but as “ a force for good” to “champion big issues,” she continued.

Yet, she explained, “They could not be further apart in background, temperament, character, or even looks—yet the world did and does adore them both.” Their royal experience is also vastly different—while Kate has the full support and love of her husband Prince William, Diana did not have that in Prince Charles (now King Charles).

“It’s one of the tragedies of Diana’s story that she was adored by millions, yet emotionally denied by the few who mattered most,” Seward told Hello!. “And that is where the contrast with Catherine is most striking. Her life is not perfect, but it is rooted in a shared understanding with William, her husband, Diana’s son. They face the institution together. Diana faced it alone.”

Kate also comes from “an incredibly close-knit family,” which is something “that Diana didn’t have,” Seward added. Kate also had the benefit of taking “lessons from Diana,” she continued. “She saw that Diana gave so much of herself to people, but it exposed her too much. Catherine learned from that—just give enough, but don’t give too much, because you’re too vulnerable that way, and people are going to strip you bare if you do that.”

In addition to being the author of numerous royal biographies, Seward is also the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine and personally knew Diana during her lifetime. She has covered Kate extensively, and told Hello! that the current Princess of Wales “keeps William together.”

“When she becomes queen, I think it will be more inclusive,” Seward said. “They get down and they talk to people, ask them about their problems, deflect from themselves, and show they are genuinely interested in people.” Of Kate, Seward added, “her strength is so admirable.”

The Gist

• According to royal biographer Ingrid Seward, Princess Diana believed that, had they been older, her tumultuous marriage to Prince Charles could have worked.

• When they married on July 29, 1981, Charles was 32, and Diana had just turned 20 earlier that month.

• Had that factor been at play, Seward said the former Princess of Wales told her that she and Charles could have “conquered the world.”

Despite the often tumultuous nature of their marriage, at the end of Princess Diana’s far too short life, the former Princess of Wales told royal biographer Ingrid Seward that it was important to her that her sons Prince William and Prince Harry knew that she and their father Prince Charles were once in love—and that this specific difference in their relationship might have made their ill-fated union work.

Poignantly, Seward said Diana told her that she believed “if they’d met when they were older, they probably would have made it work and conquered the world.” When they married on July 29, 1981, Charles was 32 years old, and Diana had just turned 20 earlier that same month.

“I was very lucky to see Diana shortly before she died, and she actually told me that she really loved Charles,” Seward told Hello!. “He was the one she would always love, and he was the one that got away.”

“She said, ‘It’s very important to me, Ingrid, that my boys know that their father loved me,’” Seward continued. “‘Of course, the world won’t know, because they won’t see the letters that we wrote each other.’”

Seward explained that the Prince of Wales—now King Charles—“wrote her the most beautiful love letters in which he praised her and talked about her in the most loving way. He did love her. He may not have loved her in the very beginning and he may not have loved her by the end, but he always loved her, and he felt so bad that he couldn’t make the marriage work.”

Charles, Seward said, was “plagued by guilt” that he couldn’t make the marriage work, she added, “because he knew he was the one who should have made it work.”

But, Seward added, Diana’s “intense jealousy” and “many, many other things” made them “just not suited at the time,” she said. Ultimately, the couple separated in 1992, finalizing their divorce in 1996, just one year before Diana’s untimely death.

Seward’s comments to Hello! came on the heels of the release of Diana’s brother Charles Spencer’s bombshell book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, where he said in part that the future king told him that the world would forget Diana “soon enough” and that he seemed “giddily elated” after her death in a 1997 Paris car crash.

“And as for Diana, it’s [the book] the last thing in the world she would ever want, for anyone to put her husband down,” Seward said. “She could, but no one else could.”

Read the original article on InStyle

Prince William and Princess Catherine have long been viewed as one of the monarchy’s most prominent couples, but their relationship began with friendship before romance.

Royal author Ingrid Seward recently discussed the couple’s early relationship during a live recording of A Right Royal Podcast at Quaglino’s, sharing what she believes helped shape their relationship over the years. “I think what the great thing was that Kate and William were very good friends before they became lovers,” Ingrid tells the audience.

The pair met while attending university, eventually beginning a romantic relationship before going on to become engaged and marry in front of millions of people around the world. This comes as the pair are facing an unusual travel rule.

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According to Ingrid, Catherine was someone William could turn to during their university years. She recalled an occasion when William drove to see Catherine during what she believes was their first vacation from university.

“She was, in a way, his sounding board. During, I think it was their first vacation from university, he drove to take Catherine out. He drove to her house in Bucklebury and he took her to the local pub, and they had a long, long chat,” reports the Express.

Ingrid went on to explain that Catherine was not only a friend to William, but someone who would listen to him and offer advice when he was unsure about his studies.

“I can’t remember the exact timing. But they were very good friends, and she listened to him and she advised him, and she said, ‘Look, if you’re not happy doing History of Art, you know, try to do something else. Do Geography or something,’ which is what he did. She was such a good friend.”

William ultimately changed his course of study from History of Art to Geography, with Ingrid pointing to Catherine’s role as an example of the support she provided him during their time at university.

Their friendship eventually developed into a romantic relationship, with the couple later becoming engaged before exchanging vows at Westminster Abbey in April 2011.

Their wedding became one of the biggest royal events in recent history. Queen Elizabeth hosted a reception for the newlyweds and their guests at Buckingham Palace following the ceremony.

Reports indicated that approximately one billion people around the world tuned in to watch the wedding through television and streaming services.

Inside Westminster Abbey, 1,900 guests were present for the ceremony, while more than one million people gathered along the streets between Westminster and Buckingham Palace to see the newlyweds.

For Ingrid, however, the couple’s relationship goes back much further than their wedding day. Their years of friendship at university came first, with Catherine becoming someone William could speak to, listen to and seek advice from.

An author has revealed that Princess Diana spotted a gap in the bond between King Charles and Prince William. The claim has emerged as the former royal couple’s relationship is receiving renewed attention. Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, has made some serious claims about her marriage to the then-Prince in his newly released memoir titled “Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.”

Author claims Princess Diana felt King Charles lacked ‘parental tenderness’

Princess Diana reportedly sensed that King Charles struggled to show the softer, more affectionate side of fatherhood. The statement comes from a royal expert who says that the late Princess wanted to parent differently from other royals. She apparently refused to let Prince William be consumed by the outdated royal system that had shaped his father.

In “My Mother & I,” Ingrid Seward writes that Diana believed the Firm’s unyielding protocols forced her husband to carry its burden. She observes that the late royal felt Charles’ “lack of parental tenderness” left him unable to be “emotionally open and honest.” In a more damning claim, the book asserts that His Majesty “had been deprived of crucial early nurturing by the one parent who really mattered: his mother.”

However, in defense of the late Queen Elizabeth II, the author notes that Charles was just four when she became Queen in 1952. He and Princess Anne spent much of their childhood in the care of nannies. This was largely due to their mother’s demanding royal duties.

Hence, Princess Diana wanted William to feel the “tenderness” she believed Charles never received. She “didn’t care how many people she upset or how many toes she trod on” to ensure he did.

The former Princess of Wales’ decision was clear in how she raised her sons. Diana took William and Harry to theme parks and fast-food restaurants and showered them with open affection. She also made a point of being present at their school sports days.

Now fathers themselves, both princes carry forward her legacy by staying present for the everyday moments and never holding back on affection.

The post Princess Diana Saw One Thing Missing in King Charles’ Bond With Prince William — Author appeared first on Mandatory.