Prince George's Godmother Says Role Is a 'Lovely Way of Loving' Princess Diana

One of Princess Diana's closest friends has opened up about her grief, 25 years after the princess's tragic death, and of her joy at being Prince George's godmother.

Psychotherapist Julia Samuel told The Observer Magazine: "I feel lucky I was such a good friend of Princess Diana. And I really love my godson, George. And it's a lovely way of loving her."

Samuel met Diana in the 1980s and became close to Prince William as a result. Since Diana's death in a car crash in Paris in 1997, she has remained a close family friend of the prince and was asked to be a godmother to Prince George—William and Kate Middleton's eldest son—in 2013.

Speaking in 2020 on an episode of the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast, Samuel explained how she likes to pull the same trick that Diana used to play with her children when it came to giving presents:

"She was godmother to my son so I do to George what she did to us, which is give impossible toys that are really noisy and take a lot of making. I come in slightly tipped by the size of the present that William then has to spend days putting together. And then put all the machinery together, and it makes awful tooting noises and lights flashing and all of that which makes me laugh and it makes George laugh," Samuel said.

Demonstratively close to William, Samuel is also said to be close to Prince Harry.

In 2021, following his interview with Oprah Winfrey, it was speculated that psychotherapist Samuel was the close friend of Princess Diana that Meghan Markle approached for help in understanding the weight of her new royal role.

Meghan told Oprah: "One of the people that I reached out to, who's continued to be a friend and confidante, was one of my husband's mom's best friends, one of Diana's best friends... Because it's, like, who else could understand what it's actually like on the inside?"

During Diana's lifetime the pair were neighbors with Samuel living just the other side of the park to Kensington Palace. Samuel has spoken rarely of her friendship with the princess but has recounted her frustration over the outpouring of public grief towards Diana at the time of her death.

She told The Observer Magazine: "I felt angry, I was angry that she died, and shocked and I couldn't really understand it all. I mean, I understand it better now...I understand that people felt they really knew and loved her. But I still feel sad today."

Samuel has become a celebrated author of books on psychotherapy and mental health. On the subject of both William and Harry's advocacy and breaking of taboos in this area, she said, "I think both the princes have really turned the dial on talking about grief so honestly and also about mental health. But that was all theirs – completely off their own bats."

Prince George will turn nine in July. Speaking to Day, Samuel said of Diana's first grandchild, "He's funny and feisty and cheeky and God, she would have loved him so much. That is heartbreaking for all of them."