Prince William and Kate Middleton paid tribute to Princess Diana earlier this week, U.K. newspapers report. The royal couple laid flowers at her grave site, an island known as The Oval, which sits on the Spencer family’s Althorp Estate.
“Diana is still a huge part of her boys’ everyday life and always will be. It is very important for Kate to share and understand William’s love and grief for his mum,” a source told the Daily Mirror. Adding, “But even though Kate never met Diana she knows what an incredible woman she was and it is very important to her she can share and understand William’s love and grief for his mum.”
William has publicly stated that he wants his late mother to be present at his ceremony on April 29, saying that the engagement ring he gave Kate — Diana’s diamond-and-sapphire ring — was “my way of making sure my mother didn’t miss out on today and the excitement.”
Prince Charles married 20-year-old Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 — almost exactly 30 years ago from the date of William and Kate’s upcoming wedding. In 1997, Diana was fatally injured in a car crash in Paris, after allegedly being chased by paparazzi. Her burial ground contains a shrine, which is a permanent memorial to the princess.
