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Hannah Furness
March 16, 2026 — 5:43am
The Prince of Wales has shared a previously unseen photograph of his mother holding his hand in the garden at Highgrove, saying he remembers her on Mother’s Day in Britain and “every day”.
The prince, who now has three children of his own, posted an image on social media of Diana, Princess of Wales, as a young mother, taken from the private family collection, to mark the annual day.
In a personal note signed “W” for William, the Kensington Palace shorthand taken to mean he wrote the message himself, the Prince said: “Remembering my mother, today and every day. Thinking of all those who are remembering someone they love today. Happy Mother’s Day. W”
It shows the two-year-old Prince in a striped T-shirt and red shorts with a blond mop of hair, holding his mother by the fingers.
Princess Diana is dressed casually, in a pink jumper, a collared shirt and turquoise trousers, with a gold watch and necklace glinting, amid a sea of wildflowers.
The photo was taken at the family’s home at Highgrove, Gloucestershire, in 1984.
The royal social media accounts also shared photographs of family matriarchs who are no longer with us: Queen Elizabeth II; Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother; and Rosalind Shand, the mother of Queen Camilla.
The post included a message reading: “Wishing Mothers everywhere, and those who might be missing their Mums today, a restful Mothering Sunday.”
It is understood that the Prince of Wales wanted to mark the day with an image of his mother in what would have been the year of her 65th birthday.
Princess Diana died in 1997, when she was just 36, and the prince was 15.
His wife, Catherine, is now the Princess of Wales. Last year, she marked Mother’s Day with a video about “Mother Nature”.
The year before, a photograph was released of the princess and her three children, laughing and cuddling on a porch.
At the time, she had been out of the public eye, having undergone serious abdominal surgery and had, unknown to the world, been dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
In a message signed C for Catherine, she wrote: “Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months.”
The photograph, taken by her husband, was later subject to a “kill notice” from picture agencies because it appeared to have been edited.
The princess issued a statement expressing “my apologies for any confusion” over the photograph, adding: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
Nearly two weeks later, having told Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, she announced that she was undergoing treatment for cancer.
The princess is now in remission and continuing her return to public life.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have regularly shared photographs of their growing family to mark milestones, including Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and their children’s birthdays.
They often include unseen images from the family album, with the princess a keen photographer.
In 2023, they released images from a professional countryside photo shoot at their home in Anmer, showing one picture of the princess and her three children perched in a tree and another of her cuddling Prince Louis.
In 2021, they used a photograph of a cake baked by George, Charlotte and Louis and photographs of the cards the children had written to the grandmother they never met: “Granny Diana”.
In an accompanying message, acknowledging the challenges of being away from loved ones during COVID-19, the prince and princess explained that “each year on Mother’s Day, George, Charlotte and Louis make cards remembering their Granny, Diana, for William”.
One, from Princess Charlotte, who was five years old at the time, said: “Papa is missing you”.
The royal family’s social media posts included an image of the King and his sister Princess Anne, now the Princess Royal, at Balmoral, Scotland, in 1953 with their mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The family are sitting on a garden bench with the Queen’s corgi, Sue, in the background.
The photograph was taken before the births of Charles’ younger brothers, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Edward, now the Duke of Edinburgh.
A second shows a black-and-white picture of the late Queen as a young woman, walking beside her mother on a windy carpet, both holding stylish formal hats at the same angle.
A third shows Queen Camilla as an adult with her late mother, Rosalind Shand.
The Telegraph, London
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