The Queen invited Prince William for private ‘quietly intimate’ lunches so he wouldn’t ‘crack up’ like Princess Diana, Ingrid Seward claims
THE Queen hosted a young Prince William for private lunches at the palace following his mother and father's divorce to ensure he didn't 'crack' like the Princess Diana, a royal biographer has claimed.
Able to understand the pressure he was under as future king, and feeling 'great sadness' for her grandson, the monarch supported William, 37, by inviting him to meals.
Royal expert Ingrid Seward explained that the Queen felt she had to do something to support the heartbroken prince, and that she and husband Prince Philip agreed on the 'quietly intimate' lunches.
In her book My Husband and I: The Inside Story of 70 Years of the Royal Marriage, Ingrid wrote: "The one person who could help, and who had to help, was the Queen.
"She knew only too well what pressures William was facing. She told her advisers she feared that he might crack up like his mother had.
";William started joining the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for lunch, and afterwards, Prince Philip would leave the Queen and her grandson together in the Oak Drawing Room."
This precious time allowed William to speak to his grandmother privately for the first time and make her aware of any struggles he was going through.
Ingrid continued: "Until the separation, one of the Queen's great sadnesses was she had hardly seen him, but now, at last, she was able to do so on a regular basis and form a proper relationship.
"In this quiet intimacy, the Queen was able to impress upon William that the institution on the monarchy was something to be upheld and respect, and worth preserving."
And it's a relationship that still stands strong today, as just last week William and his wife Kate Middleton, 37, joined Her Majesty at a family church service at Balmoral.
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The three beamed as the arrived at the Crathie Kirk Church in Aberdeenshire, where Prince Charles also attended with wife Camilla, arriving in a separate car.
In other news, Prince William was praised for his 'lovely' note in response to birthday messages he received in June.
While Kate and Will's charity removed its mention of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to finalise the 'split' between royal households.