The world lost an icon when Princess Diana died on Aug. 31, 1997 in a car crash at the age of 36.
Her legacy lives on through her sons, Prince Harry and Prince William, as well as their respective wives, Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton.
The Duchess of Sussex, 42, and the Princess of Wales, 41, have often been inspired by Diana in their fashion choices and charity work.
26 years after Diana’s death, royal experts are sharing the most important lessons the two women could learn from Diana’s short, but impactful life.
Commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti recently told Fox News that Middleton and Markle will continue to step out of Diana’s shadow as the years go by.
“The legacy Princess Diana has left … is one of awareness,” he noted. “Women who marry into the royal family know what they are marrying into, for good and for bad.”
He continued: “They make that difficult choice knowing the life of privilege and luxury that they will lead, but also the possible difficulties and challenges that come with all that.”
The People’s Princess was married to Prince (now King) Charles from 1981 until 1996.
Their relationship was quite rocky, with rumors of infidelity swirling around both of them.
Diana also struggled with being in the limelight, as she was one of the most photographed people in the world before her death.
In a BBC “Panorama” interview in 1995, she described her pain of being a member of the royal family, explaining to interviewer Martin Bashir that the Firm saw her as a “problem” and a “liability.”
History seemed to repeat itself when Harry, 38, and Markle opted to step back as working royals in 2020.
They did their own version of a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey a year later, addressing their conflicts within the royal family.
Another expert divulged to Fox News that Diana would “have sympathized” with the pressures Markle faced as a senior royal.
“Diana would have lent Meghan a shoulder to cry on,” Christopher Andersen, author of “The King,” theorized. “I think Diana could also have provided Meghan and Harry with valuable advice on how to cope.”
The royal author also pointed out that “Diana would easily rank as the most popular royal of all time” if a poll was conducted today.
“Had Diana not entered the picture when she did, I can’t imagine that we would care half as much about the royal family. She breathed new life into what was becoming a musty and outdated monarchy, and continues to even today,” Andersen shared.
Furthermore, Diana would have been “thrilled” that Harry and William, 41, “fell in love with and married two dynamic and fascinating young women.”
He shared that Middleton is “a no-brainer,” as she “fulfills every wish Diana might have had for a daughter-in-law destined to become queen.”
And Diana “initially would have been happy with Meghan as well, identifying strongly with the divorced biracial American actress as a fellow outsider,” Andersen added.
As for Harry and Markle’s surprising 2020 exit from the Windsor clan — dubbed “Megxit” by fans — it sent shockwaves through the world and further strained the relationship between Harry and William.
Andersen doesn’t believe Diana would have “approved of Megxit and the way it pitted her sons against each other.”
“Harry’s mother always wanted him to have a major role in supporting his brother, the future king. She would never have wanted him, no matter how upset his wife had become, to essentially turn his back on his birthright and the rest of the royal family,” he reasoned.
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