Prince George's birthday tradition started by Diana that leaves William struggling
With Prince George 's 12th birthday just around the corner, the royal family will no doubt be celebrating the milestone day. With many birthday traditions to honour as the second in line to the throne approaches his adolescence, the Waleses are expected to pull out all the stops to make the day special.
Princess Kate has previously shared details of a series of birthday traditions the family indulge in, including the fact that Kate will often stay up until midnight to make birthday cakes for her children's big days. However, there is one cheeky tradition that was originated by Princess Diana, that Prince William struggles with each year.
The tradition first began when Princess Diana would give the children of her good friend, Julia Samuel, noisy gifts that were difficult to put together: entertaining the child and frustrating the parents in equal measure.
Julia, who is one of Prince George's seven godparents, has since passed the tradition down to the Wales family, meaning year after year, Prince William gets stuck with the irritating task.
Samuels first talked about the funny tradition when she was a guest on the podcast How to Fail with Elizabeth Day, in an episode in 2020 to mark what would have been Diana's 59th birthday, as she explained: "I do to George what [Diana] did to us, which is give impossible toys that are really noisy and take a lot of making.
"William then has to spend days putting them together. And then put all the machinery together, and it makes awful tooting noises and lights flashing and all of that."
She added that the rest of the family takes great pleasure in watching William struggle with the gifts, especially "cheeky" George. She explained that it "makes [her] laugh, and it makes George laugh."
Asked about her royal godson George, Julia said he was "amazing", adding her dear friend Diana would have adored him too. "He's funny and feisty and cheeky and God she [Diana] would have loved him so much," she said. "That is heart-breaking for all of them."
Princess Diana never got to meet her grandchildren, as she was just 36 years old when she tragically died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. Prince William was 15 years old at the time of his mother's death, while Prince Harry was just 12.
Despite the fact that Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis never got to meet their grandmother, Prince William has long talked about how he keeps her memory alive with his three children by making sure they all know details about Diana's life.
During an appearance in the 2017 ITV documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, William said: "So we've got more photos up round the house now of her and we talk about her a bit and stuff. And it's hard because obviously Catherine didn't know her, so she cannot really provide that level of detail.
"So I do, regularly, putting George or Charlotte to bed, talk about her and just try and remind them that there are two grandmothers, there were two grandmothers in their lives. And so it's important that they know who she was and that she existed."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
6 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Coronation Street's Simon Gregson lays bare 'very strange' reality behind soap scenes
Coronation Street actor Simon Gregson has opened up about his long-running role as Steve McDonald in the soap, admitting he has shared some very intimate moments with co-stars The soaps might portray ordinary, everyday existence, but what goes on behind the cameras is far from ordinary, according to Coronation Street 's Simon Gregson. Simon has been playing Steve McDonald for more than 35 years, navigating dramatic plots including gangster beatings and seven marriages, to five different wives and an extended struggle with depression. Yet it's the intimate scenes that Simon has found most demanding. On the People Are Deep podcast, he revealed: "In my job you have to get to know people so very quickly because you can have only have just met them that day and you've got to snog them, be half naked with them in a bed, and do a 'before the watershed' sex scene and tell them you love them." The 50-year-old added that working so closely with fellow actors means "it becomes very raw" almost immediately. He described it as "a very strange, but a nice feeling". Simon was discovered for his Corrie part whilst still at school, though acting had never been his intended career path. "I joined Coronation Street by accident," he revealed. "I was wagging school with a friend of was adamant that we were just going to stay off school for the whole day, but I said 'Absolutely not. We need to go in, we need to do the register so at least they think we're there, and then we'll go to Manchester Arndale Centre.'" Simon and his pal were in for a surprise when they rocked up at school, only to find ITV talent scouts on the hunt for fresh faces to join the cast of Coronation Street. "They took photographs of us," Simon reminisced, "because I think they had a certain look they were looking for. I had blue eyes, the dad was Irish. That was as simple as it was." The scouts had their eyes set on Simon and Nicholas Cochrane from Kingsway School to audition for a couple of new roles on the cobbles. "Then," Simon recounted, "some guy started talking to us and we had to stop him and say, 'Sorry, you're talking to us as if we've got the job.' And he went, 'Yeah you've got the job.' And I've been there ever since." Before this unexpected turn, Nicholas Cochrane had already dipped his toes into the world of TV as an extra for Granada TV, which produces Coronation Street. And after he landed the part of Andy McDonald, the producers wanted someone with a similar look to play his twin brother. When the opportunity came knocking, Simon didn't hesitate. He confessed: "I'd never acted in my life. I didn't want to be an actor." He was more enticed by the prospect of television's financial rewards, saying: "It was the fact it was TV, and TV sound sounded very much like money to me, I wanted some of that green stuff!" While Nicholas bowed out after seven years, with just a few reappearances for family weddings, Simon's impromptu decision has led to a career spanning decades on the beloved soap. "I wouldn't say no to being in Coronation Street, playing Steve, for the rest of my life," Simon declared. "For me it was never about ambition. It was never about treading the boards and trying new things. For me it was always a job, you know, a regular wage. "I love what I do. I love the people that I work with. So as long as they'll have me, and pay me, I'll stay."
The Sun
32 minutes ago
- The Sun
Coronation Street character quits the cobbles in devastating exit and final scenes have already aired
CORONATION Street's Lou Michaelis has quit the cobbles - insisting on severing all contact with her children. The hairdresser - who is played by actress Farrel Hegarty in the ITV soap - has plead guilty to attacking Gary Windass and now faces a spell in prison. 2 2 But this week she decided that she needed to cease contact with her kids until she was free again. Summoning foster carer Sally Metcalfe to prison, Lou told her: "I don't want you bringing the kids to see me anymore. 'Not regularly. I just don't want them to get used to seeing me here. And this place getting mixed up in their memory of me." Sally tried to tell Lou that things would get better but Lou wouldn't hear it. She added: 'I just think it's best to say goodbye for now. For all our sakes." Lou then called her son and daughters over to spend their final minutes together until she said goodbye for a few years at least. "I'll look after them, I promise," Brody said as the family hugged goodbye. Actress Farrel Hegarty only joined the soap six months ago alongside Joe Layton as Lou's husband Mick. The nightmare neighbours were immediately controversial with a swift viewer backlash, but now fans have spoken out about missing Lou. One wrote: 'I can't believe #Corrie is losing the brilliant Lou but the abysmal Theo is sticking around 😢😢😢😢' Coronation Street exit as star's final scenes air just six months after joining soap A second said: 'If #Corrie have any sense whatsoever left they'll bring Lou back in a year or so, she screams classic Corrie icon in the making & I cannot praise Farrel Hegarty high enough, she is completely brilliant!' Another added: 'LOU DESERVED BETTER 😭She reminded me of a Shona and Kylie Platt. Bad past but had a heart of gold deep down and only ever wanted to do the right thing by her children. Made her mistakes no doubt but everything out pure fear.'
Evening Standard
35 minutes ago
- Evening Standard
AI used to aid Love Island casting process, ITV boss says
'When we get to the stage of narrowing it down to hundreds of prospective Islanders and we want to share audition highlights on a reel with the ITV commissioning team, to support the casting decision, we use the software (Quickture along with an Adobe editing programme) to edit the hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels.
