The truth about Princess Diana's real royal legacy

Princess Diana died exactly 24 years ago, on 31 August 1997. Like the death of JFK, for many it's a 'what were you doing when you heard?' moment, while for those who loved the real woman, it's the anniversary of a life-changing tragedy.

In the almost quarter-century since the car crash that killed both the Princess of Wales and her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, alongside driver Henri Paul, the Royal Family has changed dramatically.

Her beloved sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, both married 'commoners'.

Heir to the throne William choosing the eminently suitable and sensible Kate Middleton.

Harry married US actor and campaigner Meghan Markle and triggered a tsunami of drama, with the couple 'stepping back' from their royal roles soon after the birth of Archie, now two, and moving to California, Meghan's home.

Now, he and William are barely speaking, in the wake of the revealing Oprah interview earlier this year, while Prince Charles and his younger son remain at a distance.

Meanwhile, the Queen continues to cope stoically as a recent widow, and none of the family has openly commented on the accusations of abuse levelled at Prince Andrew.

Yet back in the '90s, Diana was seen as the disruptive element in the family, refusing to stay quietly married to a man who was in love with someone else, and openly speaking about her resulting pain and trauma on TV and to biographer Andrew Morton.

Read more: On This Day: The death of Princess Diana, a campaigner to the very end

She also tried to update fusty royal traditions, taking her boys to theme parks and bringing them with her on secret visits to hospital Aids wards, to prepare them for their lives of service.

Whether she really roller-skated in the palace, as depicted in The Crown, is uncertain. But the disco and fashion-loving princess, who was just 19 when Charles proposed, was determined to modernise The Firm, and reach out to the public in a way that previous generations had not.

“If I’m going to have cameras pointed at me the whole time, I might as well use all this publicity for good,” she said of her humanitarian work with landmines, homeless people and hospital patients.

In the documentary, Diana, Our Mother, William said; "She was very informal and really enjoyed the laughter and the fun. But she understood there was a life going on outside the palace walls and she wanted us to understand that from a very young age.”

His younger brother Harry recalled her saying: "You can be as naughty as you want, just don’t get caught."

"She made the decision that both of us were going to have as normal a life as possible," he said. "If that meant sneaking us out for a burger or to the cinema or driving out on country roads in her old BMW with the top down and Enya playing, then so be it.”

She perhaps hoped that her boys would go on to continue her work, bringing openness and warmth to what was back then often seen as a cold and closed-off institution of tradition and privilege.

In adulthood, William has created the life that Diana herself perhaps longed for – plenty of time spent in both town and country, charity work and a happy family. He has also spoken out about mental health via the Heads Together campaign, talking about the impact of her death.

"I've thought about this a lot, and I'm trying to understand why I feel like I do," he said in 2019. "But I think when you are bereaved at a very young age, any time really, but particularly at a young age... you feel pain like no other pain."

Watch: Sarah Ferguson thinks Princess Diana would support Prince Harry's memoir

Harry, however, has been more brutal in his approach to truth-telling, recently saying: “Like, every possible opportunity the forces were working against us... trying to make it impossible.”

His words echoed Diana's own documented fear of 'dark forces' working against her within the palace.

Yet since her death, the public has expected more openness from the senior royals, complaining vociferously when the Queen did not return quickly enough from Balmoral to publicly mourn the princess, and more recently, expressing horror at the footage of William and Harry as bereaved children forced to walk behind her coffin.

Charles has expressed an intention to open up palaces to the public when he accedes the throne, while this summer, Buckingham Palace's gardens were opened for the first time.

Diana's approach to family has also resonated.

The Duchess of Cambridge is hugely popular with the public, but makes it very clear that family time matters too, and the days of separating new mothers from their babies on royal tours is gone – perhaps as a direct result of Diana's refusal to leave William behind on the famous Australian tour of 1983.

Harry and Meghan, of course, speak out about whatever's on their mind, with Meghan telling ITN's Tom Bradby how hard she found the adjustment to royal life, and Harry openly revealing the couple's mental health struggles.

Read more: Princess diana remembered by her family and fans 24 years after her death

Diana, who made no secret of her sessions with therapist Susie Orbach, was the turning point for this royal generation's therapy-speak and openness. She also showed love and warmth in a way that previous royals had not been willing to do, hugging and touching both members of the public and her own children.

So while her humanitarian work remains her official legacy, her unofficial one may have changed the future of the House of Windsor forever.

By teaching her children to speak their minds, and follow their hearts, she ensured that royalty will no longer be a closed book, but a story that everyone can access.

Watch: Looking back at Princess Diana's influence on the HIV/AIDS battle