Press Association via AP ImagesPrince William has finally erased the ultimate symbol of his mother Princess Diana's heartbreak with a hugely emotional visit to the Taj Mahal.
As William sat with wife Kate Middleton by his side Saturday, in front of the architectural masterpiece built by a devastated emperor for his deceased wife, the significance of the moment would not have been lost on him.
Twenty-four years ago, a solitary Diana rested atop the exact same bench. While the then Princess of Wales posed for only five minutes as photographers snapped away, the iconic image captured endured and has become a haunting reminder of what is left behind when a fairytale marriage has been irretrievably broken.
Arguably the world's most magnificent emblem of love, and yet it must have been the place where Diana felt the most unloved. Years before Prince Charles had said he would like to take his wife on a romantic trip to the famous building, but rather than accompany Diana on that February day in 1992, he chose instead to visit an architecture school hundreds of miles away.
Abandoned and alone, Diana went anyway. And after her picture was taken, she couldn't help but reveal to the waiting press how much better it would have been if her husband had accompanied her. Later, she admitted, "It was a very healing experience." When a reporter asked her what she meant by that, she said, "Work it out for yourself."
We now know what Diana couldn't have possibly known at the time, that the breakup of her marriage (announced a few months later) would become bitter and turn into an all-out war. And far more tragically, that she would never get to see her beloved sons grow into the men she hoped they would one day become.
Over the years, since her tragic death in 1997, I have talked to many people who knew her, and they tell the same tale. All Diana hoped for was that William and Harry would find happiness and marry for love. She wanted them to find the happily-ever-after she knew she could never have with Charles.
William did just that. And ultimately his marriage is everything his mother hoped. By going back to the place of Diana's sadness today, and sitting on what is now known as Di's Bench, he is showing that good can come out of the worst kind of adversity.
Today was a son's tribute to his beloved mother. Recognition that she taught him the most valuable lesson of all. It will create new memories for William and Kate (and Prince Harry). And one day, when they are old enough to understand, show Prince George and Princess Charlotte (who shares a middle name with her late grandmother) that heartbreak doesn't last forever. And maybe the ghost of Diana's sadness can finally be laid to rest.