When I woke this morning and discovered the Duchess of Cambridge had given birth to a son, my thoughts immediately went to Princess Diana and how excited she would have been about her first grandchild.
It’s so tragic that she isn't here for such an incredible milestone in her son’s life and that Prince William won’t have her by his side to celebrate.
I’m not alone in my sadness for a mother and grandmother lost.
Richard Kay, a friend of Diana's and a Daily Mail columnist, has confessed: "She would obviously be absolutely thrilled at the prospect of having a new baby in the palace. I'm not sure how thrilled she would have been at becoming a grandmother, though. That would have made her feel old. Diana would have been 52 now. Time marches on."
Damian Thompson at The Telegraph agrees: “It's obvious, but it has only just occurred to me. Diana, Princess of Wales, would have become a granny today. That makes some of us feel very old – and sad, of course. Diana was a naturally gifted mother; she'd have been a terrific, funny, glamorous granny – though no doubt freaked out by attaining this venerable status at the age of only 52. (Somehow I very much doubt that she'd have looked her age.)”
And Princess Diana’s biographer, Andrew Morton, told The Sun: ‘[She] would have loved being a grandmother. She always wanted a daughter – if she had married again, doubtless she would have had more children – but a grandchild is a special delight. Fun to play with but you can also hand them back.”
The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth at the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in London, same location where the Princess of Wales gave birth to both William and Prince Harry.
And the new prince’s birth was an echo of Wills' own birth announcement 31 years ago, via a royal declaration delivered from the hospital to Buckingham Palace via royal escort and placed on an easel outside the palace.