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A social media clip highlighting Prince William and Prince Harry's shared views on the legacy of their mother has gone viral amid the brothers' ongoing royal feud.
In recent years, both William and Harry have spoken about their lives since the death of Princess Diana in 1997, when the brothers were just 15 and 12 years old.
August 31, 2023, marked the 26th anniversary of the Paris car crash that ended the princess' life, with a number of social media posts marking the occasion reaching viral numbers at the time.
Uploaded to TikTok by user remembering.diana in the days leading up to the anniversary, one of the latest fan-made videos to go viral highlights the similarities between the brothers' thoughts towards their mother and her legacy.
"We were left in no doubt at all that we were the most important thing in her life and after that it was everyone else," William is heard saying in the video as a 1980s archive clip of the prince and princess was shown.
This is followed by an audio clip of Harry saying: "She never allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated. To us, just two loving children, she was simply the best mother in the world."
@remembering.diana #ladydiana #princessdiana #princewilliam #monarchy #royalfamily #britishmonarchy #britishroyalty #royalty #spare #princessmargaret #britishroyalfamily #kingcharles #kingcharlesiii #princecharles #queencamilla #princegeorge #coronation #princesscharlotte #princelouis #ladycolin #katemiddleton #meghanmarkle #princeharry #queenelizabeth #queenelizabethii #tombower #britishroyals #royals #royalnews #monarchist #royalist #meghanandharry #harryandmeghan #dianaspencer #diana #vintage #princessanne #thecrownnetflix #thecrown #elizabethdebicki #fashion #feminism #viral #trending #fyp #foryoupage #foryou ♬ son original - Remembering Diana
Captioned "One thing Harry & William agree on: Their mother," the TikTok video has been viewed over 100,000 times on the social media platform so far, gaining in excess of 8,000 likes.
A number of commenters have praised Diana while also noting sadness at the current state of the brothers' relationship.
"She was clearly a warm, kind and wonderful mother," wrote one user.
"She was an excellent woman beauty and Grace!" posted another, while a further comment read: "I wish the brother[s] would make amends!!!"
Speculation about the relationship between William and Harry has circulated since 2019, with Harry telling a TV interviewer that he and his brother were on "different paths," despite their love for one another.
When Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, dramatically split from the monarchy in 2020, this speculation grew, eventually being confirmed by Harry in his interview with Oprah Winfrey a year later, and his subsequent Netflix documentary.
The most detailed breakdown of the princes' relationship was provided by Harry in his January 2023 memoir, Spare.
The prince provided a no-holds-barred account of the issues faced with William over the course of his life, down to naming the book "Spare" after being called the "spare" to William's "heir" since birth.
The prince recounted how William had pretended not to know him when they attended school together, and that the pair had never been as closely bonded as the media and monarchy would have led the public to believe.
In one of the more damning accounts in the book, Harry alleged that William physically assaulted him in a 2019 argument over Meghan Markle's treatment of palace staff.
William did not respond to the claims made by Harry in his book, in line with a blanket "no comment" position adopted by King Charles at Buckingham Palace.
Despite the inclusion of the more difficult events in their relationship in Spare, Harry also included a number of touching scenes between him and William, including those surrounding their marriages, and bonding trips abroad.
In an interview given to Anderson Cooper at the time of the book's publication, Harry said that despite everything, he loved his brother and nothing included in Spare was intended to harm any member of his family.
"My brother and I love each other. I love him deeply," he said.
"There has been a lot of pain between the two of us, especially the last six years. None of anything I've written, anything that I've included is ever intended to hurt my family."
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