Prince William and Prince Harry have received some sad news as their childhood bodyguard, Graham Craker, has died at age 77. While Princess Diana had her own bodyguard, Craker was in charge of the young princes and served as their protection officer at the time of their mother's 1997 death.
In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry revealed the sweet nickname the brothers called their bodyguard during a section of the book about Princess Diana's death—and given the protection officer's name, it's not exactly surprising.
Writing about his mother's funeral, the Duke of Sussex penned, "The driver had to keep pulling over so the bodyguard could get out and clear the flowers off the windscreen. The bodyguard was Graham. Willy and I liked him a lot. We always called him Crackers. We thought that was hysterical."
The protection officer was a steady presence in royal life for the boys, and he was even pictured riding rollercoasters with them during an April 1994 trip to Alton Towers. This was the same outing when the iconic photos of Princess Diana dressed in her Philadelphia Eagles jacket were taken, along with the famous snaps of her laughing alongside her sons on a log flume .
Craker, who was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order by Queen Elizabeth, retired in 2001 and was invited to Prince William's 2011 wedding. The former royal protection officer's cause of death has not been reported at this time.
Following his retirement, the royal protection officer gave an interview recalling the events of Princess Diana's death. "I crept down the stairs to the house phone and dialed the duty office at Buckingham Palace," he said (via the Mirror). "They said there were reports there’d been an accident and Dodi Fayed had been killed and the Princess had a broken arm."
Of course, he soon learned what had actually happened. "It was disbelief, really, and obviously a great deal of sorrow," Craker said. "You try and deal with it as best you can but you do get quite emotional about it."
In 2017, Craker told the New York Post, "Perhaps the most emotional was seeing William the morning after. I saw William walking his dog outside, and I walked up to him and said, 'I’m very, very sorry to hear your bad news.' William very sadly said, 'Thank you.' Not wishing to encroach upon his grief, I then walked on and William continued walking his dog."
Speaking of the moment Prince William saw his mother's coffin being loaded into the hearse, Craker said, "I was standing at the rear of the hearse and William looked up and acknowledged me. I looked toward him and nodded. William was comforted that I was with his mum on her final journey."
