After all the dramas of 1982, the next significant event in the royal couple’s family life took place on 15 September 1984 at 4.20pm. The Queen was on her Balmoral break with the Duke of Edinburgh and members of her family when the Princess of Wales gave birth to her second child, another boy. His name was announced from the steps of the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington as Prince Henry Charles Albert David and he would be known as Harry. Diana had a difficult pregnancy, was tired and overwrought, and felt thoroughly miserable as she acknowledged she was not made for the production line. The Queen had been aware for a while that her daughter-in-law was finding it difficult to adapt to the pressures of her royal role, but assumed she would eventually find her feet. And, to outward appearances at least, that is what Diana seemed to be doing. She carried on performing her royal duties until July, to the admiration of people she met.

Four days before Christmas, Harry was christened in St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Lord Snowdon, who took the official photographs, despite being divorced from Princess Margaret, had an almost impossible task. William was trying to get all the attention and kept tugging at the ancient Honiton lace christening robe his brother was wearing and protesting loudly when he was not allowed to hold the baby. Snowdon’s assistant recalled his behaviour, feeling it to be spoilt: ‘Every time he did something naughty they roared with laughter. No one admonished him and he was a thorough pest.’

The christening was shown in the Christmas broadcast that year, with rare footage of William chasing his cousin, Zara Phillips, round the legs of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In another sequence, Diana was seen trying to explain to William how many generations of royalty had worn the robe he had tried to tear to pieces. ‘Great-Granny was christened in it,’ she said. Charles quickly interjected: ‘And I was christened in it.’ He was trying to cover up for his wife’s mistake, for the great-granny in question was the Queen Mother who, like Diana, was an earl’s daughter and therefore had most definitely not worn the regal robe.

Weddings and christenings are the things that bind families together and in March 1986 Prince Andrew had become engaged to Sarah Ferguson, the lively daughter of Prince Charles’s polo manager, Ronald Ferguson. ‘I am delighted he’s getting married,’ Prince Philip said, when he and the Queen returned from their tour of Australia and New Zealand, ‘but not because I think it will keep him out if trouble because, in fact he’s never been in trouble, but because I think Sarah will be a great asset.’