Princes William, Harry on their sorrow over last ‘rushed’ call with Diana

The princes opened up to the filmmakers about the last time they spoke to Diana from the Queen’s estate in Balmoral, Scotland. The brothers, William 15, at the time, and Harry, just 12, remembered that they were playing with their cousins at the time Diana phoned.

Both William and Harry said they have regrets about that final call to this day.

“Harry and I were in a desperate rush to say goodbye, you know ‘see you later.’ … If I’d known now, obviously, what was going to happen I wouldn’t have been so blasé about it and everything else,” William said in the documentary while he and Harry were looking through a photo album. “But that phone call sticks in my mind quite heavily.”

Credit: Anwar Hussein

Credit: Anwar Hussein

Harry echoed his brother.

“Looking back on it now, it’s incredibly hard. I’ll have to sort of deal with that for the rest of my life,” Harry said. “Not knowing that was the last time I was going to speak to my mum; how differently that conversation would have panned out if I’d had even the slightest inkling her life was going to be taken that night.”

"I can't necessarily remember what I said, but all I do remember is probably regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was," Harry said.

The brothers also talked about how much fun their mother was.

“She was very informal and really enjoyed laughter and the fun,” William said.

“She was one of the naughtiest parents,” Harry added.

Credit: Princess Diana Archive

Credit: Princess Diana Archive

Prince William and Harry said they are talking candidly about their mother publicly for the first time to help honor her memory and the good works she was known for, including her work with AIDS victims and her activism against land mines. But Prince William said he doesn't expect to discuss his mother again in such an open way after the events surrounding the 20th anniversary of her death.

 The Associated Press contributed to this report.