EXCLUSIVE: Prince William’s Father’s Day Photo Has Hidden Significance

Prince William’s choice of Father’s Day photo shows him as a toddler with King Charles III months before Prince Harry was born and shortly before Princess Diana said her marriage “went down the drain.”

The photo, from June 1984, showed the prince and his father with a football, in a subtle reference to the UEFA Euro 2024 soccer championship, currently taking place in Germany. However, it also dates back to a significant moment in William’s childhood after which there was a major turning point in Charles and Princess Diana’s relationship.

The image shows Charles and William playing soccer together in the gardens of Kensington Palace on June 12, 1984, during a photoshoot marking William’s second birthday. The prince’s choice of picture was almost certainly a nod to the England national team’s soccer against Serbia taking place in Germany that evening, which England won 1-0. He is president of the Football Association, English soccer’s governing body, and will head out to Frankfurt to watch the country play Denmark in its second group game on Thursday.

However, whether deliberate or not, the picture also comes from a complex period in the lives of both his father and mother. While William may have been unaware at the time, as he was only two, the months leading up to and following Prince Harry’s birth in September, 1984, were difficult for his mother.

In tapes recorded for her secret biographer Andrew Morton’s book Diana: Her True Story, she said: “Then between William and Harry being born it is total darkness. I can’t remember much, I’ve blotted it out, it was such pain. However, Harry appeared by a miracle. The book, based on interviews with Charles and his friends and aides, contains a rival account of the same period: “While she was pregnant with Prince Harry and for six months after his birth the Princess made no further official visits abroad, preferring to stay at home with her very small children.

“For much of the time they lived within the shell of a normal marriage, though they still lacked the intimacy and mutual understanding without which the relationship could not grow. “As they shared no common interests there was little to talk about except the mundane arrangements that are necessary when two people share the same roof. “The Princess had dispensed with the services of her psychiatrist, saying that she was better. However, her swings of mood continued, and there were periods of distress that were exhausting to both of them.”