Awwwww, the Princes' lost their 2nd Mum........
It is no surprise that Prince William has abandoned a high-profile royal visit to the North-East today, leaving the Duchess of Cambridge to carry on alone, in order to be at Olga Powell’s funeral at Harlow, Essex.
(the boys nanny/granny for 15 years)
Were he not on active service in Afghanistan, Prince Harry would have been there, too. Just the other week, Nanny Olga, who would have been 83 next month, had written to the prince as he started his deployment, wishing him luck and admitting her fears for his welfare. It was a letter from a woman who looked on the princes as being ‘like my grandsons’.
Over the next 15 years, Nanny Olga was witness to the joys and despairs of family life at Kensington Palace — and ultimately to its destruction.
Every one of those secrets she has taken to her grave
She never forgave butler Paul Burrell for what she saw as his ‘betrayal’ in writing his tell-all books about Princess Diana.
Olga Powell was very much a part of royal family life and an important element in the boys’ recovery from the trauma of their parents separation.
Even after Diana died and Olga had retired to her semi in Hertfordshire, she never really left the Royal Family. She was at Harry’s confirmation at Eton College chapel, at William’s 21st celebrations at Windsor Castle, and at his passing out at Sandhurst.
She was also at William and Kate’s wedding and the reception last year, though she declined the invitation to the evening party at Buckingham Palace as ‘it would make the day too long’.
As William joins her family and friends in Harlow today, he will know of her request for people not to spend money on flowers, but to make donations instead to Prince Harry’s charity, Sentebale.
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Here she is
Nice to know they had this lovely lady tolove them after Di died