Even though their father's mother, Princess Diana, died years before they were born, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis honor their late grandma every year on Mother’s Day in the U.K.
The Instagram account for their parents, Prince William, 38, and the former Kate Middleton, 39, shared a series of photos of the kids' handwritten and drawn cards on Sunday, and each shared a special message with their “Granny Diana."
“This year Mother’s Day will be different once again,” the Instagram caption read. “Many of us will be apart from our loved ones, but looking forward to a time in the not too distant future when we can give our mother a hug again. But for those experiencing bereavement, today may be particularly challenging.”
"Each year on Mother’s Day, George, Charlotte and Louis make cards remembering their Granny, Diana, for William," the caption continued. Whatever your circumstances, we are thinking of you this Mother’s Day 💐."
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The first photo in the carousel was a picture of a sunny day by 7-year-old George, complete with a flock of birds flying in the sky. “Dear Granny Diana, Happy Happy mothers day,” his card said. “I love you very much and think of you always, Sending lots of love from George.”
Charlotte’s card included a large multicolored heart surrounded by stickers of flowers and butterflies.
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“Dear Granny Diana I am thinking of you on Mother’s Day,” the 5-year-old's message read. “I love you very much. Papa is missing you. Lots of love Charlotte.”
Louis, who will turn 3 next month, appears to have finger-painted his card, which featured a drawing of a heart, a collection of animal stickers and his name signed in the bottom corner.
The kids also baked a cake for their mother, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, to celebrate Mother's Day. A photo of the cake was shared on social media alongside one of young Kate with her own mother.
The cards will be gifted to William, who was 15 years old when Princess Diana died in a car accident in 1997. The Duke of Cambridge has been candid in the past about his grief over losing his mother, which he said resurfaced when he became a father.
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"Having children is the biggest life-changing moment. It really is," William revealed in the BBC One documentary "Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health." "When you've been through something traumatic in life, that is, your dad not being around, my mother dying when I was younger, your emotions come back in leaps and bounds because it's a very different phase of life, and there's no one there to kind of help you."
He said that it's “at times, overwhelming. ... Me and Catherine, we support each other, and we go through those moments together, and we evolve and learn together.”
"Emotionally, things come out of the blue that you don't ever expect or that maybe you think you've dealt with," he continued. "Children coming along ... is one of the most amazing moments of life, but it's also one of the scariest.
Despite the grief, William has been able to keep his mother’s memory alive for his children by “constantly talking about Granny Diana,” he revealed in the 2017 documentary, "Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy.”
“We’ve got more photos up around the house now of her, and we talk about her a bit,” he said, adding that that the task is more difficult because his wife never met her.
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“It’s hard, because obviously Catherine didn’t know her, so she cannot really provide that level of detail, so I do, regularly putting George and Charlotte to bed, talk about her and just try and remind them that there are two grandmothers, there were two grandmothers, in their lives," William explained. "It’s important that they know who she was and that she existed.”