Why Prince William's birthday will be tainted by sadness this year

Prince William is set to celebrate his 38th birthday later this month.

• Prince William is set to celebrate his birthday on Father's Day.
• But a royal author has claimed that it'll be a sad one for the future King.
• This royal news (opens in new tab) comes after Prince Harry received some devastating new (opens in new tab)s.

The future King's special day will be tainted by a feeling of sadness, according to a royal expert.

Royal correspondent Katie Nicholl has explained that Prince William will likely be missing his mother, Princess Diana (opens in new tab), as he marks his 38th year.

Prince William and his younger brother Prince Harry lost their mother as young boys after she suffered a car accident in Paris in 1997.

The pair have both been very open about how her death has impacted their mental health throughout their lives.

Speaking in his recent BBC documentary Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health, William explained that the pain of losing his parent still affects him.

"You feel pain like no other pain. And you know that in your life it’s going to be very difficult to come across something that’s going to be even worse pain than that. But it also brings you so close to all those other people out there who have been bereaved.

"So you instantly, when you talk to someone else, you can almost see it in their eyes sometimes and it’s a weird thing to say but when someone’s desperate to talk about bereavement, you can kind of pick up on it quite quick."

Speaking on how Diana's absence will play a part on his birthday, Katie Nicholl told OK! magazine,"William misses his mother. It must be emotional for him that she’s not here to share this. She’s still a significant part of his life so inevitably, on his birthday, his thoughts will be with her."

Prince William will spend his birthday, which falls on the same Sunday as Father's Day this year, alongside his wife the Duchess of Cambridge and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

The Cambridge family are currently residing in their Norfolk home, Amner Hall, which sits in the grounds of the Queen's Sandringham Estate.

The five of them have spent the duration of the UK coronavirus lockdown in the lavish country abode, where doting mother Duchess Catherine has been homeschooling the two eldest of her brood.

The Duke and Duchess haven't let the coronavirus pandemic stop them from carrying out their royal duties, though.

The iconic couple have put their tech skills to great use and made multiple appearances via video call.

William and Catherine left residents of a Cardiff care home thrilled when they dropped by to play a game of bingo and even called the numbers in the most hilarious way.