Publications
Prince George’s godmother Julia Samuel has revealed that her close bond with Prince William and Kate Middleton’s eldest son is a “lovely way of loving” his late grandmother, Princess Diana.
The 60-year-old psychotherapist, who lives in London, became close friends with "the people’s princess" after meeting 1987. They remained close right up until the royal’s death in 1997.
“I feel lucky I was such a good friend of Princess Diana . . . and loving George, it’s a lovely way of loving her,” she told the Observer Magazine.
Julia is one of seven godmothers named by the Cambridges at George’s birth.
She's previously described the youngster, who turns nine in July, as being “feisty and cheeky”. She's also revealed she gives him noisy toys which takes William “days to put together” as a running joke inspired by Diana.
Speaking on the podcast How to Fail with Elizabeth Day last year, Julia explained how the tradition had started with Diana, who was godmother to Julia's son, saying, “So I do to George what she did to us, which is give impossible toys which are really noisy and take a lot of making.
"I come in slightly tipped by the size of the present that William then has to spend days putting together and then put all the machinery together.
"It makes awful tooting noises and lights flashing and all of that. That makes me laugh and it makes George laugh.”
She's previously revealed she felt honoured to be made the little prince's godmother and saw her role as an “important responsibility”.
“George is funny and feisty and cheeky and Diana would've loved him so much,” she added.
Julia, who's one of the UK's leading grief counsellors and founder of the charity Child Bereavement UK, also told The Observer that she admired both William and his brother Harry’s openness about their struggles with mental health issues.
“I think both the princes have really turned the dial on talking about grief so honestly, and also about mental health. But that was all theirs – completely off their own bats.”
She met Diana in 1987 when they were seated next to each other at a dinner party. They quickly became firm friends. “We saw something in each other,” she says.
Sources: dailymail.co.uk, countryask.com, mirror.co.uk
