Why Princess Diana “Gave Up” Her Sons William and Harry During Summer

When Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles separated in 1992 before filing for divorce four years later, they shook up the British monarchy—and, according to the late Princess of Wales’s longtime butler, their dynamic with their sons. In an interview with Marie Claire published on Tuesday, July 16, Paul Burrell— who served as the late royal’s butler from 1987 to 1997—revealed the heartbreaking reason that Princess Diana “willingly gave up” her sons Prince William and Prince Harry during the summer.

Following her split from Charles, Diana began to see much less of her boys during the summer months, with Burrell sharing that she “only ever had the boys for two weeks every year because she gave them up.” He explained. “Summer was fun for her, but she realized that the rest of the year and the time away from boarding school, that they would be with their father and their friends.”

This decision was a particularly difficult one in the years before her death, as both her sons started attending boarding school when they were just 8 years old—at the time of Diana’s passing, William was at Eton while Harry went to Ludgrove Prep School.

Despite wanting more time with her sons, Burrell said Princess Diana knew what was at stake if they didn’t fully integrate in the royal fold. “She said it’s important for them to grow up with her cousins, with the Royal Family at Balmoral,” he shared, adding, “She realized that they were growing up and they had to be integrated into the Royal Family because William one day will be King and Harry will be there to support him.”

Burrell also said that Princess Diana had to get creative with planning summer vacation activities with her sons, usually choosing a beach destination like “Necker Island, or somewhere remote” rather than Kensington Palace.

The former butler revealed that Princess Diana’s last summer with Prince Harry and Prince William in 1997 was a brief one before the boys headed to Scotland to spend the rest of the season with Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, and their dad Charles. “They’d been to the Mediterranean, and they played on jet skis, and they’d had fun. Then she brought them back home so that they could go to Balmoral,” he explained.

While Princess Diana might have felt this decision was the best thing for her sons, it didn’t make the lack of time together any easier. Describing the late royal as a “devoted mother,” Burrell revealed that this arrangement took a toll as Harry and William’s boarding school schedules already cut into their limited time together. “She began to lose them to the outside world and to the Royal Family. Not emotionally, but physically, which was very sad,” he said.