20 of Princess Diana’s Most Memorable Mom Moments

As many moms know, kids really do become the center of our worlds. Princess Diana felt the same way, as she was once quoted as saying, “I live for my sons. I would be lost without them.” Sadly, they ended up being a bit lost without her, but she made the years she did have with them count.

Diana seemed to really enjoy goofing off with her sons, and even let them bury her in the sand when they were on a beach vacation. Now, could anyone imagine the Queen letting Prince Charles do that to her? (Highly unlikely.) Diana was just a new type of mom in the royal family.

Long before Kate Middleton and William brought baby George to Australia, Diana did the same thing with baby Prince William. Before that, it was pretty unheard of for royal children to accompany their parents on trips. The Queen and Prince Philip once left their young children home for six months while they conducted business. Diana was not about that life.

In the history of the royal family, breastfeeding is not common. Queen Elizabeth was among the first to do it, and Diana followed in her footsteps. Whatever a mom chooses to do when feeding her children is up to her, and formula feeding is also alright. But we love that Diana followed her heart and did what she wanted to do, even if it wasn’t always popular for royal women.

Even though they were royal, Princess Diana was so dedicated to giving her sons the most normal life possible, and part of that normal upbringing included trips to theme parks — like Disney World. She even rode the rides with them, because she wasn’t about to let them have all the fun by themselves!

Former royal chef Darren McGrady revealed that Diana used to take her sons to McDonald’s for some kid-friendly fast food. “I remember the princess came into the kitchen one day and said, ‘Cancel lunch for the boys, I’m taking them out, we’re going to McDonald’s,'” McGrady said. “And I said, ‘Oh my God — your Royal Highness, I can do that, I can do burgers.’ And she said, ‘No, it’s the toy they want.'”

Princess Diana would also sometimes sneak her sons out of the palace and into a local movie theater so they could experience a film the way everyone else got to. According to the International Business Times, Harry later called those outings some of his favorite memories. “Sneaking us into the cinema, or driving through the country with the roof down on her old-school BMW listening to Enya … all of that was her being a mum,” he said.

IBT also reported that Prince Harry revealed his mom’s very fun motto, which was “you can be as naughty as you want, just don’t get caught.” How cool would that be for a kid to hear? Over the years, Harry did get caught being naughty sometimes, but now we’re just wondering how many times he didn’t get caught.

According to Newsweek, Diana always made sure her kids came first in her schedule. “In her official calendar, the princess had all the everyday details of her sons’ utterly everyday lives marked in green ink,” the outlet reported. We love that Diana was possibly documenting something as simple as “William nap.”

This is something that William and Kate do as well: Take their children to school and pick them up themselves. For Diana, a normal school experience for her kids was very important. “I’ve chosen all the schools,” she once said. “Charles wanted them to be governessed here [at Kensington Palace], and I said, ‘No, they’ve got to go out if they’re going to survive when they’re adults.'”

Because her children’s school meant so much to her, Diana was quick to get involved in any school activities. She once participated in a school sports day, where she competed in a “mothers’ race.” If we were betting people, we’d hazard a guess that she probably won.

Part of Diana’s legacy is that she was an incredibly charitable woman, both as an official member of the royal family and after she left the monarchy behind. She also taught William and Harry the spirit of philanthropy, and they carry that with them today as they participate in all kinds of charity work.

Diana was very public about her affection for her sons, and would often give them giant hugs. Harry spoke about those hugs years later, saying, “She would just engulf you and squeeze you as tight as possible … Even talking about it now, I can feel the hugs that she used to give us.”

The princess was a total mama bear when it came to William and Harry. She once said, “I will fight for my children on any level so they can reach their potential as human beings and in their public duties.” Diana was so protective over her kids, and we can see a lot of that same mentality in how Prince Harry keeps Archie out of the spotlight.

William and Harry had the cutest nicknames courtesy of Princess Diana. She reportedly would call William “Wombat,” after the adorable Australian animal, and she would call Harry “Ginger” (for obvious reasons) — or “Good King Henry” — because she believed he could have been a good ruler if he wasn’t second to William.

“I want my boys to have an understanding of people’s emotions, their insecurities, people’s distress, and their hopes and dreams,” Diana has said. Some people raise boys to think they have to be strong all the time (and have no emotions), but Diana wanted her sons to learn to be empathetic.

This is something that Kate also loves to do, and Diana was a pro at it. Kate usually coordinates with Charlotte, but Diana didn’t let not having a daughter stop her from matching with her kids. Here she is at the Trooping the Colour with Harry, and they’re both decked out in green.

In William and Harry’s playroom, the back of the door was adorned with an art project that was clearly carried out by one of the boys. The construction paper train may not have matched the antique decor, but Diana didn’t care. She was proud of her boys, and wanted them to feel loved even in their stuffy royal home.

There are definitely some perks that come with being royal, and those perks allowed Diana to pull some strings and invite her son William’s crush over to the house. That crush was none other than supermodel Cindy Crawford. Imagine being Prince William and coming home one day to see Cindy Crawford. Unreal.

Princess Diana was one of the most involved parents the royal family had seen up to that point. She always planned to be this way, according to ABC News, which reported that “from the beginning, she rebelled against the royal traditions of arm’s-length parenting.” She also taught her sons how to raise their own children in that same hands-on way.