If you're from the States, chances are you weren't aware that UK Mother's Day falls in March. This year, Mother's Day came just a week after the explosive interview from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle regarding their treatment during their time as senior royals.
That timing normally wouldn't mean much. The royal family usually shares some pictures to mark the occasion and moves on.
This year, however, there was a more concerted effort to honor Princess Diana's memory. Kensington Palace social media shared photos of cards made for Diana on Mother's Day by her grandchildren Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. While some were touched to see the three honoring their late grandmother, many questioned the authenticity and timing of the cards, given the recent criticism the royal family has faced.
The tricky thing about finding yourself in a family feud that's playing out in the media is the knowledge that no matter what you do, you'll be scrutinized. That's what the royal family is realizing after a few moves this weekend that had even some of the Crown's most ardent supporters scratching their heads.
It began Saturday, when Kate Middleton visited the memorial erected for Sarah Everard, a woman who is believed to have been murdered by an officer with London Metropolitan Police's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection command.
The case has started a lot of conversations about the way women are treated, abuse by those in powers, and other political matters that the royals usually don't touch and have especially avoided in the wake of Prince Andrew's BBC interview.
It's for those reasons, among many more, that it was surprising to see Kate, with no mask on, in a crowd of mostly masked people, paying her respects at a makeshift memorial at the Clapham Common bandstand. The visit was said to be a decision Kate made privately and didn't want security detail or cameras around as a result, though many photos and videos of her at the memorial have since appeared.
People questioned whether this was an authentic move by Kate or a palace effort to improve their sorely bruised reputations after the ugliness of the last week. Those debates were still in full swing when Kensington Palace shared its Mother's Day post, a deviation from the average throwback pictures.
"This year Mother’s Day will be different once again. Many of us will be apart from our loved ones, but looking forward to a time in the not too distant future when we can give our mother a hug again," the post began.
"But for those experiencing bereavement, today may be particularly challenging," the post continued.
"Each year on Mother's Day, George, Charlotte and Louis make cards remembering their Granny, Diana, for William. Whatever your circumstances, we are thinking of you this Mother's Day ."
Anyone who has lost a parent, even one they may have had a complicated relationship with, can tell you that it's not uncommon to experience all kinds of feelings about them on an occasion such as a birthday or, in this case, Mother's Day. It would be insensitive of anyone to say that William doesn't mourn his mother at all.
"Dear Granny Diana, Happy, Happy Mother's Day. I love you very much and think of you always, sending lots of love from George," the 7-year-old prince wrote.
"Dear Granny Diana, I am thinking of you on Mother's Day," wrote Princess Charlotte. "I love you very much. Papa is missing you. Lots of love, Charlotte."
That being said, there are definitely ways that the royal family machine is more comfortable seeing that grief displayed than others. William has spoken of Diana fondly on occasion and previously spoken of sharing her memory with his kids. It was sharing the cards with the children's messages to "Granny Diana" that didn't sit right with many people.
"I'm uncomfortable about the #grannydiana #mothersday PR. It feels invasive at best & exploitative at worst. #royalfamily," a family therapist tweeted, capturing the feelings of many people who saw the post.
"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge seem decent enough people. But their PR advisers are awful," another person tweeted.
"The cute children paying emotive tribute to 'Granny Diana' on Mother's Day for the first time, when the RF is in a wobbly place, comes across as cheap and cynical, even if it's not ☹."
The caption said the cards are made every year, so this is just the first we've heard of them. That could be true, but it seems a weird time to trot out that fact given everything else going on. William and Harry are supposed to reunite this summer to dedicate a statue to their mother on the grounds of Kensington Palace, but the idea of that seems such a stretch right now, as did these cards to many people.
At the end of the day, no one can speak with certainty to the cards' authenticity. They can say that the handwriting looks similar in some areas, that it was possibly traced, that these kids are too young to have a mastery of cursive, but you can't say they don't genuinely talk about Diana and her memory from time to time.
You can, however, see the press praising this move while Harry is called performative for having flowers delivered to his mother's grave.
William and Harry both had to deal with a loss that no child should have to endure, on a painfully public level to benefit an institution that did not provide their mother the protection that could have prevented such a tragedy. It would be naive to believe they are not both, to a degree, traumatized by this. William clearly processes that trauma and his grief differently than Harry does, but their lives are, as they've both pointed out, on incredibly different paths.
There's no denying that if Harry had posted a card for Diana that Archie drew, he would be accused of all kinds of heinous manipulation. It stands to reason the same is happening to William at a time when people aren't too sure what to believe about who in the British royal family feels what ways about race, Diana, and Meghan. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, brings this family together again when so much damage has been done.
It will be interesting to see whether or not William and Harry can come together for Diana's 60th birthday celebration on July 1. Considering Meghan may be around her due date by then, Harry finds himself in yet another tough spot. Then the royals' tenuous relationship with Diana also comes to mind. Does it even feel right to have a statue of her at Kensington Palace? There are no changes scheduled, but royal news certainly doesn't move at the pace it used to.
