Royal heartache: Why the Queen felt “great sadness” over grandson Prince William
There is no doubt the Queen and her grandson - as well as heir to the throne - Prince William would share a particularly special bond.
The British monarch has been training the royal for his position to one day take the crown since he was just a teenager.
However, the two were not always so close.
Royal Biographer Ingrid Seward wrote about their complex relationship in her book My Husband and I: The Inside Story of 70 Years of the Royal Marriage.
The 37-year-old is next in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles and has been aware of his impending responsibilities since he was just 13-years-old.
It was around this time when the breakdown of Prince Charles’ and Princess Diana’s marriage began.
The couple would divorce in 1996 and not long after that, Princess Di’s explosive interview with BBC’s Panorama program which shared the inner details of the Royal family would air.
In this documentary, the mother-to-two would admit she struggled to fit into the famous family.
She was also asked if she thought Prince Charles would ever be kind to which she said:"I don't think any of us know the answer to that.
"And obviously it's a question that's in everybody's head. But who knows, who knows what fate will produce, who knows what circumstances will provoke?"
The royal went on to add: "There was always conflict on that subject with him when we discussed it, and I understood that conflict, because it's a very demanding role, being Prince of Wales, but it's an equally more demanding role being King.
"And being Prince of Wales produces more freedom now, and being King would be a little bit more suffocating.
"And because I know the character I would think that the top job, as I call it, would bring enormous limitations to him, and I don't know whether he could adapt to that."
Princess Diana was later asked if the title of King should go directly to their eldest son, Prince William.
"Well, then you have to see that William's very young at the moment, so do you want a burden like that to be put on his shoulders at such an age?” she said.
“...I can't answer that question."
Seward said the interview created fairs within the royal household that perhaps Princess Di was not giving her son the proper guidance and leadership to one day be King.
"The one person who could help, who had to help, was the Queen," she wrote in the book. "She knew only too well what pressures William was facing. She told her advisers she feared he might crack up like his mother had."
The Royal autobiographer said this is when the Queen began to have lunches with her grandson.
"They talked in a way they never could have done before. One of her great sadnesses was that, until the separation, she had hardly seen him.”
“Now, at last, she was able to do so on a regular basis and form a proper relationship.”
"In this quiet intimacy, the Queen was able to impress upon William that the institution of the monarchy was something to be upheld and respected, and worth preserving."
Queen Elizabeth has also made sure Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge has had training for eventual role as Queen Consort.
Her Majesty did not have the proper training when she ascended the British throne.
During her grandfather’s throne, a younger Princess Elizabeth was third in line behind her Uncle Edward, and her father.
Due to this, she was not expected to be the Queen.
However, once her grandfather passed away in 1936, her uncle succeeded to the throne but later abdicated so he could propose his divorced girlfriend, Wallis Simpson.
Princess Elizabeth eventually became the Queen when her father passed away, at the tender age of 25.
Scroll through the gallery above to see Queen Elizabeth and Prince William throughout the years.