Across the world, on September 15, 1984, Princess Diana gave birth to an actual prince, Henry Charles Albert David Mountbatten- Windsor, in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London.
Though Harry was raised with the trappings of royalty while Meghan grew up in an “affordable” home in San Fernando Valley in the Los Angeles area, they had one thing in common that will undoubtedly impact their own parenting styles.
While still in primary school – London’s pre-prep Wetherby School for Harry; Hollywood’s Little Red School House for Meghan – each knew what it meant to come from a divided home. Princess Diana and Prince Charles officially divorced in 1996, while Meghan’s parents split when she was around 6. Both speak of being profoundly influenced by nurturing single mothers who parented with an alchemy of fun and purpose.
Before her death in 1997, “My mother made the decision that no matter what, despite all the difficulties of growing up in that limelight and on that stage, she was going to ensure that both of us had as normal life as possible,” Harry said in the 2017 documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy.
“And if that means taking us for a burger now and then or sneaking us into the cinema, or driving through the country lanes with the roof down in her old-school BMW to listen to Enya ... all of that was part of her being a mum.”
Before their pre-wedding estrangement, Meghan spent a lot of time with her father, but was hugely influenced by her mother.
She told Glamour magazine: “My mom has always been a free spirit. She’s got dreadlocks and a nose ring. She just ran the LA Marathon. We can just have so much fun together, and yet I’ll still find so much solace in her support.”
While Harry struggled with life in the spotlight, particularly while dealing with his grief, Meghan found fame later in life as an actress after a childhood that left her feeling like an outcast. “[Growing up], I was called the nerd: bookworm, gap in my teeth, crazy hair, peg legs,” she told Elle Canada. “Even through high school I never fully felt as though I fit in – finding myself as a biracial girl teetering in between groups.”
Now that they’ve found each other, the couple – and their new baby – will forge a parenting path to make both of their mums proud. “I’m sure she’s longing for me to have kids so she can be a grandmother again,” Harry said of Diana to Good Morning America in 2016. “I hope that everything we do, privately and officially, makes her proud.”