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A compilation video featuring clips from Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle's engagement interviews has been widely shared online, as fans highlighted their comments about the late Princess Diana and her legacy.
Kate and Meghan are both daughters-in-law of the late princess, through their marriages to Prince William and Prince Harry. Though they have rarely spoken about Diana publicly, both paid tributes to the royal in their official engagement interviews which were widely broadcast around the world.
In an edited social media video, posted by TikTok user royalthecrown, both Kate and Meghan's interviews have been cut together with clips of Diana, whose death at the age of 36 from injuries sustained in a high-speed Paris car crash in 1997, marked its 25th anniversary last year.
Kate became engaged to William in 2010 and together they filmed their first (and to date only) official joint television interview, at Clarence House, the home of King Charles, then the Prince of Wales.
During the interview, journalist and friend of the royals Tom Bradby asked Kate if it was at all intimidating to follow in Diana's footsteps.
"You are obviously going to enter this family, the most famous royal family in the world. William's mother was this massive iconic figure—the most famous figure of our age—is that worrying? Is that intimidating?" he asked. "Do you think about that a lot both of you, you particularly Kate, obviously?"
To this, as seen in the TikTok clip, Kate responded: "I would have loved to have met her and she's, obviously, she's an inspirational woman to look up to."
@royalthecrown if everything had worked out otherwise, the three of them would have become a great trio #dianaspencerqueen #queenofpeopleshearts #princessdiana #princessofwales #dianaspencer #dianaspenceredit #принцессадиана #дианаспенсер #royalfamily #katemiddleton #princesskate #кейтмиддлтон #принцессакейт #meghanmarkle #меганмаркл ♬ оригинальный звук - The Crown
After his future wife had answered, William went on to add that there should be no pressure on her to act under the weight of his mother's legacy.
"There's no pressure though. There's no pressure, like Kate said it is about carving your own future. No one is going to try to fill my mother's shoes, what she did was fantastic," he told Bradby. "It's about making your own future and your own destiny and Kate will do a very good job of that."
When Meghan Markle became engaged to Prince Harry in 2017, the couple sat down in a room of Princess Diana's former apartment at Kensington Palace for their first joint interview, with broadcaster Mishal Husain.
After a discussion about the engagement ring Harry designed for Meghan to include diamonds formerly worn by his mother, Husain asked the future duchess: "What does it mean to you Meghan to have those stones on your finger that once belonged to Princess Diana?"
As shown in the TikTok clip, Meghan responded: "I think everything about Harry's thoughtfulness is—and the inclusion of that and obviously not being able to meet his mom it's so important to me to—to know that she's a part of this with us."
On what Diana would have thought of her new daughter-in-law, Harry explained: "Oh they'd be thick as thieves, without question. I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, you know so excited for me, but then, as I said, would have probably been best friends with Meghan."
Like William and Kate's, Harry and Meghan's interview was widely shown around the world. However it has become overshadowed somewhat in the timeline of their relationship by other interviews, most notably the one with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
The couple's engagement interview was again pulled into focus in 2022, when Meghan appeared to criticize it, claiming it to have been an "orchestrated reality show," and an example of how the institution of the monarchy prevented the couple from telling their own story in their own authentic way.
Though Kate and Meghan have not discussed Princess Diana in great depth since their marriages, they have paid subtle tributes to their late mother-in-law through their fashion choices and through wearing pieces of her sentimental jewelry.
Meghan often wears the princess' gold bracelet and aquamarine cocktail ring, while Kate repeatedly styles her grand occasionwear with Diana's pearl and diamond tiara and pearl accessories.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more