DOUBLE DATE: WILLIAM'S BITTERSWEET CELEBRATION

THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE’S 38TH BIRTHDAY ON FATHER’S DAY COULD BE A TIME OF MIXED EMOTIONS

-  MICHELLE GARNETT

This week sees a double celebration for the Duke of Cambridge – with his 38th birthday falling on Father’s Day. He’ll spend it with the Duchess of Cambridge and their children, Prince George, six, Princess Charlotte, five, and two-year-old Prince Louis at Anmer Hall, Norfolk where they are self-isolating. But while the special day will bring joy for the dad-of-three, there’s also a chance it could be tinged with sadness.

“William misses his mother. It must be emotional for him that she’s not here to share this,” royal expert Katie Nicholl tells OK! “She’s still a significant part of his life so inevitably, on his birthday, his thoughts will be with her.”

It’s nearly 23 years since the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales. In the new BBC documentary, Football, Prince William And Our Mental Health, the duke revealed how first time fatherhood brought the painful trauma of losing her flooding back to him “in leaps and bounds”. He also said that he found it “overwhelming” that she wasn’t there to help him.

“William is keeping his mother’s memory alive. They have photos of Diana around the house, very deliberately so, and he speaks about her to the children. He and Kate share stories with them about how Diana helped people and they tell the children how much they would have loved their grandmother.”

Like many across the UK on Father’s Day, William will also face the heartache of being separated from his own father, Prince Charles, who’s currently 440 miles away at his home on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland.