Princess Anne once said her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, made the right call keeping Prince William and Prince Harry at Balmoral in the wake of Princess Diana’s death in 1997, saying the young boys would not “have been able to cope” with the tragedy in London.
In a 2017 interview with ITV News that was released Sunday in the wake of Queen Elizabeth’s death, Anne backed her mother’s decision to keep the boys in Scotland following the Princess of Wales’ unexpected death.
“My mother did exactly the right thing,” Anne said, speaking to ITV News. “It’s absolutely extraordinary that any right-minded thinking parent should believe there would have been an alternative to bring those children down here to London in all that hoo-ha.”
Queen Elizabeth laughs with Prince Harry and Prince William
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – JUNE 13: Queen Elizabeth II Laughs With Her Grandsons Prince William And Prince Harry On The Balcony Of Buckingham Palace After The Trooping The Colour Parade.Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images
She continued: “I just don’t know how you could think that would have been the better thing to do.””I don’t think either of those two would have been able to cope if they had been anywhere else,” Anne added.
Anne went on to call the decision the only good thing that came of the tragedy.
“They had that structure, they had people around them who could understand, give them the time, little time that they had, which was never going to be very much, to try and come — even in a fleeting sense — to terms with what had happened.”
She added: “It’s not possible for most people to do that in that space, never mind children at that age.”
Prince Philip was also a source of support for William and Harry after their mother’s death, as he is said to have to have promised them he would walk with them behind her coffin at her funeral.
In the same interview, Anne said her mother “led by example,” with her children and grandchildren “watching and learning” throughout her unprecedented 70-year reign.
Princess Anne was among the Queen’s children — including Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and newly crowned King Charles III — to walk next to her coffin on Monday during her procession before a royal funeral.
The princess also accompanied her mother’s coffin on its journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh, riding behind it with her husband for six hours. A touching video showed Princess Anne curtsying at the coffin when it arrived at at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at Balmoral on Thursday at age 96, as Buckingham Palace announced.
Princess Anne’s comments about the “hoo-ha” Prince William and Prince Harry would have had to endure had they come to London following Diana’s death are particularly poignant as thousands flock to London to pay their respects to the late monarch.
Indeed, those hoping to see Queen Elizabeth lie in state at Westminister Abbey may have to wait in queues of up to 30 hours long, and an ex-Met police has concerns that the Queen and those mourning her could be targets for terrorist attacks.
