All of my life I have had a fascination with the British Royal Family. As a child I often gave presentations on them at school and followed the whereabouts of Diana as she did all her amazing charity work. I’m not going to lie, I went through a phase where I was convinced I would marry Prince William, and begged my parents to take me to England where I was sure he would meet me and live happily ever after (my amazing folks did take me to England, but strangely enough Wills did not come knocking…guess he missed the memo).

With the 10 year death of Princess Diana approaching on August 31, the Princes’ are opening their hearts to the public with their first American TV interview. The interview was conducted by Matt Lauer and will air this Monday on TODAY and Dateline NBC. The princes share stories of their lives with Diana, dealing with her being gone, and their quest to be ‘normal’, just like their mommy wanted. The boys talk about how fortunate they are, and about how much they miss their mother. William says to Lauer: “There’s not a day goes by I don’t think . . . about it. And so for us . . . it has been a long time.”

The two little Princes are also holding a special concert for her on her birthday, which would have been July 1. Entitled the Concert for Diana, Prince William said a while back in the early planning stages, “It’s got to be the best birthday present she ever had.” The concert will be held at Wembley Stadium and will include performances by Elton John, Joss Stone, an Andrew Lloyd Webber melody of hits and even a performance by the English National Ballet.

I think Diana would have loved this. She would have equally loved that the proceeds from the concert will help various charities including Centerpoint (one of William’s favorite charities, which helps the homeless), Sentebale (a charity co-founded by Prince Harry that helps the Children of Lesotho) and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

It is great to see the Prince’s commitment to charities and those less fortunate then them. As royalty they do have some responsibility and duty to do charity work, but it’s nice to see them make an effort to not only go above and beyond, but to do so in a very public way, just like their mom did, and to reach out around the world.

(Hey, Wills…if you’re reading this…call me! 😉

Picture below from AFP and found at Sydney Morning Herald. Header picture from AP.

Princes William and Harry with interviewer Fearne Cotton. The interview will be on BBC One on Friday June 29, 2007.