Prince William reportedly felt deeply betrayed by his mother, Princess Diana, after her candid revelations about her relationship with James Hewitt during the infamous 1995 BBC Panorama interview. This moment, which Diana famously described as having “three of us in this marriage,” referencing her husband’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, had a profound impact on William, who was just 13 years old at the time.
The young prince watched the interview alone in his housemaster’s study, and the experience left him visibly shaken. The admission that his mother had also been unfaithful, particularly with someone he and his brother Harry had grown close to, pushed William “over the edge.” The betrayal he felt was not only directed at his father, Prince Charles, for his infidelity but also at his mother for publicly airing their family’s deeply personal struggles.
Diana, aware of the pain her revelations would cause, was devastated by her son’s reaction. When William’s housemaster found him after the interview, he was slumped on the sofa, eyes red from crying. The tension between mother and son escalated to the point where, when Diana called to speak with William shortly after, he refused to take her call. In the days that followed, William’s anger boiled over. Diana confided in her faith healer, Simone Simmons, that William had erupted in rage, shouting and crying, and even pushed her away when she tried to console him.
Although William later apologized to his mother, giving her flowers as a peace offering, Diana was left deeply troubled by the incident. She repeatedly asked Simmons, “What have I done? What have I done to my children?” The strain of this emotional confrontation marked a turning point in their relationship, leaving Diana with a sense of irretrievable damage that haunted her.
This moment in the tumultuous history of the royal family illustrates the profound and lasting impact that public revelations and family disputes can have, particularly on young members who are thrust into the spotlight against their will. The fallout from this period undoubtedly shaped the future dynamics within the family, with William and Harry both carrying the scars of their parents’ very public and very painful divorce.