All the things Princes William and Harry inherited from Princess Diana, from her Cartier watch to her wedding dress
WHEN Princess Diana passed away, she left behind her a host of poignant items to her beloved sons Prince Harry and Prince William.
But what do they have to remember her by to this day?
Princess Diana made her will in 1993, just four years before her tragic death in Paris on 31 August 1997.
Unsurprisingly, most of her worldly possessions of value were left to her young boys, who were just 12 and 15 at the time, from pieces of jewellery to more sentimental items.
However, splitting up and acquiring the inheritance and her vast £21million estate didn’t prove that straightforward.
Here are the things Prince Harry and Prince William have to treasure their mum by…
Her wedding dress
Receiving your mum’s wedding dress isn’t usually top of the list for many sons, but Princess Diana’s show-stopping gown is undeniably a part of British history.
The dress was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel and included a stunning 25ft-long train that is still the longest of a British royal wedding.
It took a while for the dress to actually belong to the sons, as they had to reach the age of 30 first.
Until that time, the dress, along with her residuary estate, belong to Princess Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer.
On Harry’s 30th birthday, in September 2014, the dress was finally the property of the royal princes.
The original dress toured with the exhibition ‘Diana: A Celebration’ for a short time, with Althorp House, Diana’s childhood home, being where the dress is displayed most of the time.
At the time it was valued at £9,000, and a copy of the dress was sold at auction in 2005 for £100,000.
Cartier watch
When their mum passed away, Prince William and Prince Harry were allowed to choose a sentimental item to keep from her belongings at Kensington Palace.
Prince William decided to keep her gold Cartier Tank Francaise watch.
The treasured piece was given to the “People's Princess” by her father Edward Spencer and held great personal value for Princess Diana.
After her very public split from Prince Charles, Princess Diana was frequently pictured wearing the watch, and Prince William felt his mum would have wanted him to have it.
Engagement ring
When Prince Harry got to choose his keepsake from the collection, he opted for his mum’s stunning engagement ring.
The blue 12-carat sapphire and diamond ring was given to Princess Diana by Prince Charles when he proposed to his bride-to-be in 1981.
Although the ring was Prince Harry’s choice, it was actually Prince William who got to use it.
The brothers made a pact that whoever got engaged first would use the ring to propose to their fiancée.
When Prince William was preparing to propose to Kate Middleton, Prince Harry handed the ring over for the occasion.
Thankfully Prince Harry got to use two other diamonds from his mum’s collection in the ring he used to propose to Meghan Markle.
Her net wealth
When Princess Diana died in August 1997, her net worth was estimated to be around £21million.
This included stock investments, jewellery, clothes, funds and the £17million money from her divorce settlement.
Her net wealth was divided among a number of people, including the lion share to her sons, a quarter going to her 17 godchildren and some to her longtime butler Paul Burrell.
A discretionary fund
She also left a specific fund for her two sons and their future families.
The amount in this fund was reportedly £100,000, plus accumulated interest and income from assets of the fund.
Now that they’ve married into the royal family, Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton will now also be able to use money from this fund.
Jewellery
In a special "letter of wishes", Diana explained that she was leaving her jewellery to her sons' future wives.
The letter reads: "I would like you to allocate all my jewellery to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it.
"I leave the exact division of the jewellery to your discretion."
But some of her gems were on loan from the royal collection, while others were not included in her estate.
Around 25 per cent were left to various godchildren.
Here’s a list of the jewels she left behind, and what happened to specific pieces.
MOST READ IN FABULOUS
Prince Charles broke Princess Diana’s heart with this comment… and it’s what caused their marriage to go ‘down the drain’.
In more Princess Diana news, this is the reason why Lady Di had a secret second wedding dress... and it was lot less extravagant.
Plus, this is why Princess Diana' sapphire engagement ring was SO controversial at the time.
