Prince Harry's shocking new Princess Diana documentary - and what Prince William really thinks

The Duke of Sussex is reportedly planning to make his own documentary about his late mother as part of his multi million-pound deal with Netflix. Details of exactly what this might look like have yet to be released, but the idea of such a project comes as no surprise to me.

The Prince has had to sit back while dozens of documentaries have been made about the parent he lost in August 1997 when he was just 12 years old. In 2008, Harry told me how he wished he could write about his own take on his mother’s life, because he understandably hated the way that other people were profiting from her life and tragic death.

He even went as far as saying he wished he could have a day as editor of The Sun, the newspaper I was working for at the time. We were talking as the royal took part in his cousin Peter Phillips’s stag do on the Isle of Wight.

Princess Diana’s six-month-long inquest had just concluded that her death was an accident, a judgement that clearly bothered the prince greatly. At the time, Harry was in the Army and such a project would have been impossible given he was still very much a part of the Royal Family inner circle and bound by the mantra of "never complain, never explain".

But now he is free to do what he likes and Netflix has perhaps given him the platform that he so desperately craved back then to express his views. I hope Harry does make a documentary about his mother, because it’s something that might help him.

It could be a cathartic exercise, allowing him to put some of his demons to bed. The only snag is that such a project is bound to worry his brother, the Prince of Wales, whose hands are still tied by the constraints of being a full-time working royal.

It seems a shame the brothers can’t work on a documentary about their mother together. It would have a much more powerful impact if they were both involved, even though this is out of the question as things stand.

Perhaps the project will force Harry to speak to his brother and sound him out on what aspects of their mother’s life they want covered. Sources tell me, however, that William is likely to have strong opinions about his brother’s project.

He is deeply sensitive about all issues in relation to his mother. He is understandably very concerned by the reports that Harry might be about to wade into Diana territory.

To say that Harry risks touching a nerve is probably an understatement. It will also be a near-impossible task for him to cover the topic without references to his brother.

He will, in effect, be making a documentary about William, something that will likely enrage our future King. As one source put it, "Making a documentary about Diana is bound to upset William. It is such a sensitive subject, it is hard to imagine Harry would do such a thing without at least consulting the Prince of Wales."

However, as we know, Harry is likely to plough on and do his own thing without sparing a thought for his brother. Yet another sign, I would suggest, that shows how far their lives have drifted apart since the Duchess of Sussex came on to the scene.

William is well known to be stubborn and headstrong when he needs to be. It’s going to take a lot more water to pass under the bridge before he is willing to meet his brother, or even talk to him for that matter.

But he does respect his father, who is not only the King, but head of the family. Charles may well get involved and end up pulling rank. I cannot see him ever backing a documentary about Diana. A time that for him he’d surely prefer to stay in the past.

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