Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are taking “parenting tips” from Harry’s late mother Princess Diana, according to a new biography.
As the Daily Express reports, the new documentary Meghan’s New Life: The Real Princess Diaries posits that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking toward Diana’s parenting style, intensely controversial at the time, for how to raise their own little Windsor, due in the spring of 2019.
Even though the royal family has, for decades, been moving slowly away from the staunch traditions that previously governed it (such as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip sending Prince Charles to regular schools rather than having him educated by private tutors, as was tradition), Diana’s parenting style for Harry and his brother, William, was borderline shocking at the time.
ABC royals contributor Royal Nikkhah described Diana as unlike any other royal mother in recent memory.
“Diana was very much the first viably hands on royal mother.”
She breastfed both of her sons; she took them to theme parks; she brought them along on her charity ventures to homeless shelters and hospitals; she even rode with them on London’s public transportation. In short, she did her best to give both of those boys as “normal” lives as possible.
“I miss those hugs”? #PrinceHarry #PrincessDiana pic.twitter.com/EOkMAA9e0s
— abby? (@the_waless) December 23, 2018
It’s a parenting style that Harry (and William) not only appreciated but one that he plans to emulate with his and Meghan’s own child when he or she arrives.
“Harry has spoken very much about how he appreciated his mother Diana trying to give him as normal of a life as possible.”
How are they going to do that? For starters, it’s expected that Meghan, like her late mother-in-law, and like her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, she’ll be a “hands-on” mother, although what that means specifically remains to be seen.
But in a larger sense, Harry and Meghan are reportedly looking to Diana in order to determine how they’re going to raise their child(ren) generally.
“Harry and Meghan are thinking, ‘how can we give this child a life where it doesn’t automatically have its life mapped out for it?’”
That’s going to be easier said than done. Harry and Meghan’s baby will almost certainly not have to worry about someday becoming the monarch, unlike their cousin, Prince George, who will one day be king. That will give him or her some freedom in choosing a career (perhaps a military career, like their great-uncle Andrew), but at the end of the day, Harry and Meghan’s baby will still be a royal and will still have to represent not only the royal family but the United Kingdom as a whole, in everything he or she does.
With any luck, emulating Diana’s parenting style will enable Harry and Meghan’s baby to strike the right balance when the time comes.
