Prince Harry, Prince William and Matt Lauer by Lisa Berg /NBC
Well, slightly uncovered. I settled into my comfy couch last night anticipating a royal masterpiece — Matt Lauer's highly-publicized interview with Princes William and Harry, just before the 10-year anniversary of their mother's still-mysterious death. While the hour was filled with brotherly love, a few jokes and a perspective never given to American television before, it was also less than what I wanted it to be. I supposed I should have expected the commercials leading up to this Dateline interview to lead me on, but I was hopeful that I'd learn more about these siblings born into the spotlight than I did. And when it was over, I thought, "That's it?"
Still, there were moments that truly shed light on who they are — most of us will never even come close to speaking with them, but Mr. Lauer did open a few doors to their wrongly-depicted lifestyles.
Harry, for example, said he'd be living in Africa for both humanitarian and safari-driven reasons if he weren't a public figure. William expressed an interest in flying helicopters, possibly for The U.N. These tidbits were interesting to me. Other moments I enjoyed were Harry's description of his time with Diana as "amazing," and William's explanation of why they chose to host a concert in memory of their mother — so people could come and listen to some of her favorite musicians and walk out of there with the sense that it represented her or reminded them of who she was.
Overall, the interview still provided us with a real side of two people who constantly end up in the papers under exaggerated headlines or personas that don't even begin to unravel who they are as brothers, as men, as friends and as sons of a woman whose death still shakes the world to this day. But what I really took from their words last night, was that despite the tragedy, there's a lot to be said for Diana's life and what she did for others while she was here — and they remember all of that every single day.
And on that note, thinking of the personal and private aspect, it seems right that we only got a glimpse into their lives and not anymore than that.
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