The late royal broke royal protocol in 1991 when she ditched her shoes and raced alongside other mothers at her son’s school’s sports day
t’s been 35 years since Princess Diana broke royal protocol in one of her most down-to-earth parenting moments. The royal notoriously had a hands-on and nurturing approach to parenting her young sons, Princes William and Harry, and tried to give them as normal a childhood as possible while growing up in the public eye. This famously included showing off her competitive streak for a school sports day in resurfaced footage from 1991.
While Diana was usually the picture of poise out in public, the royal wasn’t afraid to go all out when she took part in a Mothers’ Race at her six-year-old son Harry’s school sports day. After her son took part in a sack race with his classmates, the royal ditched her shoes and ran barefoot across the grass in a formal blazer and skirt alongside a group of other mums from Wetherby School. Diana was beaming as she crossed the finish line, coming in a very close and well-earned second place.
In that moment, the Princess of Wales was a school mum first and royal second. 35 years later, the unearthed video is still beloved by royal fans, with one person on X (formerly Twitter) commenting under a recent post of the resurfaced clip that it was proof of “the power of just showing up for your kids. royals or not.” “She ran like every other mum who just wants to show up for her kid,” another commended the late royal, while others praised the moment as “impressive”.
Princess Diana saves the day at Prince Harry’s sports day
School involvement
William and Harry both attended London’s Wetherby School followed by Ludgrove School and Eton College later on in their education. Diana previously competed in the Mothers’ Race at her son’s pre-preparatory school in 1989 and 1990. The late Princess of Wales was also known to do the school run and was pictured on several occasions outside Wetherby with her boys.
“She made sure that they experienced things like going to the cinema, queuing up to buy a McDonalds, going to amusement parks, those sorts of things that were experiences that they could share with their friends,” Diana’s former press secretary Patrick Jephson once told ABC News about how the late royal tried to give her children an ordinary childhood experience.
Diana’s sons inherited her speed
Just like their late mother, Harry and William showed off their competitive streak back in 2017 when they took part in a relay race alongside Kate, who was then the Duchess of Cambridge. The trio raced down the track as part of the 50 metre sprint in support of their mental health campaign, Heads Together.
Harry looked over his shoulder to see where his brother was closely behind in the race. As they came to the end, it was a close call between William and Harry, with Kate taking the third prize.
