analysis
With his freak out, Prince William lets you look deep into his soul. The angry speech reveals what he has been shielding from the public for decades: the injuries of his childhood.
“I thought you guys learned by now.” This sentence perfectly explains why Prince William freaks out so much. And he reveals how deeply rooted the trauma of his childhood and youth is.
The entire Herzog family is on wheels on a Saturday. The recordings are said to have been taken in 2021 near their country home, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk. Then William and Kate discover a photographer. A video, apparently taken by the unidentified man, has been circulating on social media for days. To see and above all to hear the verbal argument between the men. The prince is visibly upset that the photographer could have taken pictures of his family. “How dare you?” cries William angrily. “You are disgusting!” In between, he fiddles with his mobile phone and it is later reported in the media that he wanted to contact the police. Driving away, the same sentence is said that the paparazzi should have learned their lesson.
Diana’s chasing by paparazzi had a traumatizing effect on her sons
It’s not difficult to understand what William means. Everyone knows his past and the traumatizing moments of his life. His beloved mother, Princess Diana, died on August 31, 1997 after a serious car accident in Paris. Paparazzi had chased the car of the “Queen of Hearts” and the drunk chauffeur raced into the Pont de l’Alma at excessive speed and crashed into a pillar. He and Diana’s partner at the time, Dodi Fayed, died instantly. She died in a hospital at four in the morning. At her funeral, her younger brother, the Earl Spencer, pointed out an irony: “A girl who was given the name of the ancient goddess of the hunt ended up being the most hunted woman of the modern age.” He promised to protect Diana’s sons from a similar fate. He didn’t succeed.
Years later, more precisely in 2019 on his trip to the African continent, it is Prince Harry who speaks openly about his trauma. “Every time I see a camera, every time I hear a click, every time I see a flash, it brings me back. In that way, it’s the worst memory of her life, rather than the best.” At the time he called it “a festering sore”.
During these years, it is above all the younger of the brothers who allows a glimpse into his soul in public. The older one keeps a low profile. In 2017, William said of her death on the ITV documentary Diana, Our Mother – Her Life and Legacy: “It took a while to sink in.” And: “I think being followed by 30 paparazzi on motorcycles who get in her way and that a woman is made to cry in public by them – I don’t think that was appropriate.”
William is more careful with his media scolding than Harry. But insiders know he hates her just as much as his younger brother. He grew up with the interest of the public almost from his birth. Also thanks to his parents.
William and Harry are presented to the media by their parents
A few hours after his birth on June 21, 1982, Prince Charles and Princess Diana show up with their firstborn in front of the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital in London. Cameras are also present when little William is christened on August 4th of the same year. The first highlight follows the following year, when the royal bundle of joy is allowed to accompany his parents on their tour of Australia and New Zealand. When boarding and disembarking the plane, the baby is presented to the waiting photographers. There is also a specially convened appointment to photograph the small family.
Events like this will happen again and again in the years to come. Especially when the couple falls out. Both Diana and Charles parade their sons to present themselves as loving and caring parents. Richard Kay, the Daily Mail’s nobility expert and Diana’s exposure to the media in the 1990s, explains star: “Diana and Charles sometimes used them (their sons, ed.) as… I wouldn’t say as weapons, but they were used between them. William and Harry didn’t have the privacy they might have would have liked.”
And there the circle closes.
William (and Harry too), now that he’s in the father role himself, tries to give his children what he himself lacked. The Duke of Cambridge takes good care of his children. He listens when they say something. And he explains the world to them. This royal world they were born into, so different from their friends and schoolmates. But: The moments in which the public is allowed to take a look at the three Cambridge children are strictly limited and planned down to the smallest detail. Otherwise George, Charlotte and Louis are “off limits”. The British press agrees. There are snapshots of the little royals, but they are not printed on the island. But that doesn’t mean that the international gossip press doesn’t do this. In addition, social media is an ideal platform for distributing such images as quickly as possible. Even if it violates the privacy of minors every time. William was afraid of that bike ride.
It’s surprising to see the Duke of Cambridge so upset. Simply because up to this point he has always had his emotions under control in public. But his anger shows William from his human side and reveals that he is shaped by his past. It ultimately makes him a better father.
Source: Stern
I am a 24-year-old writer and journalist who has been working in the news industry for the past two years. I write primarily about market news, so if you’re looking for insights into what’s going on in the stock market or economic indicators, you’ve come to the right place. I also dabble in writing articles on lifestyle trends and pop culture news.
