Antony Jones/Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty ImagesCarrying on Princess Diana's legacy is a task Prince William and Prince Harry are tackling quite literally in her stride.
While their mother tragically died nearly 20 years ago in a car crash in Paris, the late Princess of Wales lives on personally in their memory and publicly every time their lives cross paths. However, they don't stumble upon her former trail by chance. Instead, as they've matured into leaders of their own design, they remain committed to the specific social work the princess held dear and avoid the personal pitfalls she fell victim to as an unhappily married woman. As Harry said in Africa, "I want to do something that makes my mother proud."
As the two brothers engage in much of the royal work their mother began, whether that entails strengthening a relationship with the sitting United States president or tackling the AIDS epidemic engrossing parts of the world, they find themselves in the same exact places Diana was more than a decade ago.
For example, when Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton visited the Taj Mahal as a part of their royal tour of India and Bhutan last spring, the pair took a seat on a bench in front of the architectural wonder, the same bench a solo Diana sat atop 24 years before.
The visual comparison, which incited an expected media frenzy, also symbolically granted the late mother the closure she had lacked all those years ago. In 1992, the still-married Princess of Wales visited the monument alone after Prince Charles opted out of joining his wife at the romantic site, and instead, traveled to an architecture school hundreds of miles away.
The image of the princess alone became an allusion to the fallout of their marriage mere months later. However, she got her happily ever after when her oldest son sat beside his wife, a new symbol of the happiness she had always wished upon her children.
Like his mother, Prince William also experienced firsthand the frenzy of a royal wedding and all the weight such an event holds when he married Middleton in 2011. The occasion naturally fueled comparisons to his parents' nuptials two decades earlier and was viewed by millions and millions of people around the world.
While their ceremonies were not held in the same place—Diana's at St. Paul's Cathedral and William's at Westminster Abbey—the mirror images of the couples in horse drawn carriages were undeniably sentimental.
Professionally, Princess Diana was famous for her fierce and fearless devotion to controversial issues, like the misunderstood AIDS epidemic and landmines. During a visit to an Angolan minefield in 1997, she was photographed walking across the mines while wearing a helmet and vest. The images sent shockwaves through the international media and remain a vibrant symbol of her devotion to the cause.
It's a cause her younger son has since picked up, becoming a patron of his mother's Halo Trust landmine charity in 2013 and launching a quest to rid the entire world of landmines by 2025.
"Please help me keep her word," Prince Harry asked during his address at a reception for Landmine Free World 2025.
"Collectively we have the knowledge, skill, and resources to achieve [a landmine-free world], so let's make future generations proud and finish what we started."
Princess Diana's influence on American culture is undeniable and her children have certainly garnered the same level of curiosity and reverence in the states. Like the People's Princess and Prince Charles, Prince William has been welcomed into the White House during his royal career and fostered a relationship with former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Similarly, his parents were invited to the White House during the Reagan years, and it was because of former First Lady Nancy Reagan's urging that Diana iconically danced with John Travolta at a 1985 gala dinner.
The moment remains a crucial part of royal history, much like many more to come for the sons following in her path.