Prince William's Childhood: Growing Up With Diana and Charles
William was fifteen when he walked behind his mother's coffin. Here is how that loss, and his bond with his father, shaped the King-in-waiting he became.
Prince William’s childhood unfolded almost entirely within view of the public, but two threads run through it that shaped him more than any official engagement or school report: his closeness to his mother, and the loss of her at an age most people would consider far too young to grieve so publicly.
Born into the spotlight from day one
William Arthur Philip Louis was born on 21 June 1982 at St Mary’s Hospital in London, the first child of Charles, then Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales. As the eldest son of the heir to the throne, his position in the line of succession was fixed from birth, and his childhood, from christening portraits onward, played out with a level of public attention few children anywhere in the world experience.
A famously close bond with Diana
Diana was known for raising William and his younger brother Harry with a deliberately different approach to previous royal generations, insisting on a degree of ordinary childhood alongside their formal upbringing: theme park trips, fast food, and a warmth she was determined her sons would feel even amid the constant presence of cameras and protocol. That closeness became central to how William has spoken about his mother in the decades since, describing her influence on his own approach to parenthood and to his public role.
Fifteen years old, walking behind the coffin
On 6 September 1997, at just fifteen years old, William walked behind his mother’s coffin through central London during her funeral procession, alongside his brother Harry, his father, his grandfather Prince Philip, and his uncle Earl Spencer, in front of crowds estimated in the millions and a television audience reaching far beyond Britain. William has since described it as one of the hardest things he has ever done, a moment of intensely private grief carried out under an almost unimaginable degree of public scrutiny.
A relationship with Charles built through shared loss
The years immediately following Diana’s death drew William and his father closer, according to William’s own later reflections, as the two navigated a loss that was simultaneously deeply personal and inescapably public. That bond has continued to shape William’s adult relationship with Charles, visible in the responsibilities Charles has steadily handed to William since becoming King, and in William’s own increasingly prominent role standing alongside his father at major state occasions.
Boarding school, and a return to ordinary teenage life
William attended two schools in his childhood before Eton College, following the pattern common among his generation of the family: prep school first, then Eton itself, the historic boys’ school a short walk from Windsor Castle, where he studied until 2000. Eton offered a genuinely useful degree of privacy relative to some of the family’s more heavily publicised childhood moments, a controlled, familiar environment that let William have something closer to an ordinary teenage experience than his public profile might suggest was possible.
A brother who shared every part of it
Prince Harry, two years younger, shared virtually every major childhood milestone with William: the same parents, the same funeral procession behind Diana’s coffin, similar schooling, and a similarly public upbringing under the same level of scrutiny. Whatever has followed in their adult lives, their shared foundation, two boys who lost their mother together in the most public circumstances imaginable, remains a fact neither the passage of time nor any later distance between them has changed.
Why the story still resonates
William’s childhood is, in a sense, the origin story for the King he will eventually become: a boy whose most defining early experience was navigating profound personal loss entirely in public, and whose adult approach to duty, privacy for his own children, and his relationship with his father all trace back, in different ways, to that period. For readers who want the fuller story, several detailed Princess Diana biographies cover this era of William’s life in considerably more depth.
Browse more of our Royal Figures stories for how the modern monarchy’s next generation came to be.
Frequently asked questions
How old was Prince William when Princess Diana died?
He was fifteen years old when Diana died in August 1997, and walked behind her coffin during her funeral procession on 6 September 1997.
Did Prince William really walk behind his mother’s coffin?
Yes, alongside his brother Harry, his father Charles, his grandfather Prince Philip, and his uncle Earl Spencer, in front of enormous crowds and a global television audience.
What has Prince William said about his mother’s death?
He has described walking behind her coffin as one of the hardest things he has ever done, and has spoken about Diana’s influence on his own approach to parenting and to his public role.
What is Prince William’s relationship with King Charles III like?
Their bond deepened through navigating Diana’s death together, and has continued into William’s adult life, with Charles handing William steadily more public responsibility since becoming King in 2022.
Where did Prince William go to school?
He attended two preparatory schools before Eton College, the historic boys’ school near Windsor Castle, where he studied until 2000.
Does Prince William have any siblings?
One: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, two years younger, who shared much of William’s childhood, including Diana’s funeral procession and a similarly public upbringing.
Biographical details are drawn from standard royal-historical accounts of the 1997 funeral and William’s own public reflections in subsequent interviews; correct as of 2026.
