Diana's Daughter: Princess Alice

September 1, 1997
It was a quiet, summer morning at the Balmoral Castle in Scotland. The news of the Princess’s death had just reached the palace, late, last night. The entire staff, and office members were in a state of shock. Even though Diana hadn’t been a part of the royal family, she was still the mother of three royal children. Disbelief, shock, and grief were just a few emotions that Prince Charles felt after hearing the news. It would be his responsibility to tell his three children that their beloved mother had passed away in a tragic car accident. The Prince had become aware of the news, the previous night alongside his mother, father, and grandmother.
The four members of the family sat around each other in the huge den room inside Balmoral. This was a situation that would be larger than any of them could have predicted.
“Will you tell the boys, right now?” the Queen questioned her son. Her heart was absolutely broken at the fact of her grandchildren having to deal with losing their mother at such a young age. Diana might have caused her many problems when she was married to her son, but she’d always cared for the vibrant woman.
“No, I’ll tell them when they awaken. I just don’t know how I’ll be able to manage this. They are going to be heartbroken and devastated. I wish this was just a horrible nightmare.” Charles bloodshot eyes filled with more tears. He couldn’t sleep at all last night. The news of Diana had brought him into a hysteria with no return. Charles gazed out the window with tear filled eyes, his already graying hair seemed more gray now than ever. His eyes swollen and with the grief of a loss. The prince’s staff could see his absolute devastation of losing his ex-wife. The only thing he knew was, the strength he had to have for his children to get through this tragedy.
“They’ll be alright. The entire family will be right here to comfort him and be there for them,” the Duke of Edinburgh assured his son as he listened to the radio.
The sounds of voices drifted from the halls of Balmoral, signaling the prince the time to tell his children. Each family member gave him a tight hug as he got up to go to William’s room.
After taking a moment to prepare himself, he walks through the castle to William’s room. Before entering, Charles gathered himself to deliver the tragic news. With his hands shaking he turns the handle and enters the room. He finds his two sons asleep, with his daughter in the middle, beside her brothers. At only five years old, little Alice would now have to grow up without her mother, Charles knew she had a special bond with her mum, making the news twice as hard to deliver. He gently shook his eldest son’s shoulder, waking him up. William opened his eyes and immediately knew something was wrong. His father had never looked so serious, Wills could see the tears streaming from his father’s eyes.
“What’s wrong father?” the now alert William asks. Charles could only respond in whispered, broken fragments. “There was an accident… last night.. That involved your mother. The car ran into a tunnel… and your mother was badly injured. I’m sorry William, but your mother didn’t make it. Your-your-your mother is dead.”
William froze,a stabbing pain went through him. Throwing himself into his father’s arms, he began to weep uncontrollably. Charles held on tight to his son, rocking him back and forth as he released his cries. Hearing William’s cries, awoke Alice and Harry. The gingered hair boy became confused as he saw his father and brother crying.
“Why are you crying?” he asked. The boy was confused, wanting to know why his family looked so sad. His little sister crawled over to Charles side, laying her head on his shoulder. “Why are you so sad, papa?”
“Harry and Alice,” Charles says as he took a deep breath. With his arms around his two youngest children, Charles begins. “I’m so sorry, but your mother was involved in a terrible car accident.” Tears streamed down his face as he finished. “She’s dead.” Charles looks over at William who begins to cry heavily. Harry looks at his father and brother in disbelief. “She can’t be… she can’t be.. Did you look everywhere?” Harry begins to shout. Alice face crumbled with sadness at the news. Her little mind struggled to comprehend what was going on. “Mummy can’t be gone. They didn’t look everywhere. She promised she wouldn’t leave me!” the little princess began to weep in her father’s arms.
Beside her, Harry continues. “Father… father they’re lying, you know they are!” Looking into his son’s eyes as he continued, “Harry look at me, she’s dead, I’m sorry. Alice your mother loved you very much. This situation was out of anyone’s control.” Charles held onto his youngest children in a hug. “You have memories of her. No one can ever take that away from any of you,” he says as all of his children began to cry. “I’ll be here all day, all night, and all your life. I know for a fact that your mother will be looking down on you.”
Now that Diana was gone her children would have to learn how to live without her. Alice spirits were absolutely shattered. Her mother was the light of her life and now she was gone. But she knew her brothers and father would be with her every step of the way.
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3 Months Earlier
With her record of Vivaldi spinning, Diana sat in the drawing room at Kensington Palace, looking over the plans for one of her many charities. As the tempo began to quicken, her feet followed. In just a couple of moments, Diana was off the couch, and dancing around the room. She suddenly felt something tugging on the back of her dress. She turned around, only to be met by her youngest child. Diana knelt down to Alice’s level.
“Mummy you were dancing again!” Alice exclaimed. She’d always like watching her mother move with such grace.
“Yes, I was my little flower,” the Princess of Wales replied. Her daughter was the main constant joy in her life.
“Mummy can I dance with you?” the little princess asked. “Our course,” her mother assured.
“But mummy, I don’t know how to dance,” Alice confessed, looking a bit worried. Diana laughed at her daughter’s response. “What’s funny mummy?”
“Come here, I’ll teach you, Alice,”waving her five year old daughter closer. Taking Alice’s hands, Diana knelt down on the floor. “There we go,” Diana commented, placing Alice’s hands around her waist.
“Now we’ll turn in a circle, ready?” Diana asked. Alice nodded, and around the drawing floor they went.
“Look mummy we’re dancing!” Alice exclaimed. She loved spending alone time with her mum. With her being so busy sometimes, Alice would be with her nanny most of the time. Her father traveled all the time and was never really home.
“You’re doing a good job, my little princess,” Diana said as she watched a smile stretch across her daughter’s face, and she watched as that smile turned into laughter. Alice stopped dancing and wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck. Kissing her forehead, Alice added, “I love you mummy,” Diana smiled as she wrapped her arms around her daughter and said, “I love you to my Alice.”

The Last Phone Call
Alice screamed with delight as she played with her cousins, Beatrice and Eugenie in a stream on the Balmoral estate. They were on summer vacation with their families, enjoying the time away from school. At five years old, Alice had grown accustom to spending time with with her mother and father separately. After a nasty divorce, Charles and Diana thought it would be best for them to hdide it from Alice, with her being so young. There was nothing Alice loved more than being out in the open fields at Balmoral.
“Alice! Your mother is on the phone, come speak with her please!”, the royal nanny, “Tiggy,” called. The little girl felt some irritation run through her. She loved her mother dearly, but she just wanted to continue playing with her cousins.
“Fine, I’m coming,” she huffed. Aflice ran from the outdoors into the castle’s main roon. She could see her brothers had already spoken to their mother. They were just waiting for her.
Taking the phone from her youngest brother Alice spoke into the phone. “Hi mummy, I miss you.”
The soft voice of Diana drifted from the other line, “Hey my darling. Are you enjoying spending time with your brothers?”
“Yes mommy I am. I have to go now. I love you,” Alice hurriedly replied. She just wanted to get back playing with her cousins and brothers. Not knowing this would be the last time she would ever speak to her mother.
“I love you too and I’ll see you soon.” Diana had wanted to speak with her little one longer but understood that she didn’t have a long attention span. She wished she could see her children more often but that was a difficult task in itself.
Alice handed the phone back to her nanny. Harry and William had already returned back outside to play a game of football. The little girl ran off to enjoy her time with her family, with no knowledge of the impending doom.

The Funeral
The days after learning of their mother’s death were the hardest of the children’s lives. Tears, pain, and sadness is all that they felt. The little girl was so confused. Once learning about the death of her mother, no one else mentioned anything else about it. She asked her oldest brother, and he responded by saying, “It’s true Allie, but it’s going to be okay.” Alice just wanted her mum back. Being so little she had no other choice but to remain silent and remember her dearest mother, best as possible.
Watching eyes. That is all the princess could see for miles as she followed behind her mother’s coffin. It was decided that her oldest brother would carry her as her other brother Harry, uncle Charles, father, and grandfather walked beside him. Her nanny had picked out a beautiful black dress for her to wear with matching black knee socks. Tied around her hair was a delicate black ribbon that was given to her by her mother before she passed. The sounds of the clicking hoof beats was a painful reminder of her mother’s body being carried away. Before the funeral procession had begun the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh had told the princess, softly to try and not cry.
But as the carriage carried her mother’s coffin down the road, Alice began to cry silently as the world watched. Their hearts broke watching the little girl mourn for her mother. William gently caressed her back giving her some comfort. He knew how much it hurt her. On top of Princess Diana’s coffin lay a necklace with a locket which pictured mother and daughter inside. Alice wanted to give her mother the last gift she had. As she looked around at the other people crying, it made the little princess miss her mum even more.

Soon their mother was buried at Althorp, where she would rest forever. Her children would miss her everyday that came and went. But the love for their mother would never be forgotten. The things that Diana had taught Alice would be with her forever, shaping her into the women she’d become one day.