This is why Prince William and Prince Harry are so popular in America

Quora users recently wanted to know why both Prince William and Prince Harry were so popular in the United States of America. Charlotte Lang, a self confessed fan of the royal family, stepped up to the plate to share her thoughts.

Several reasons I can think of:

1. Many of us Americans remember Chuck and Di’s wedding. We don’t have royalty over here, and the royal family kind of fills a hole for us as far as pomp and ceremony and the historical lines over centuries. As much as we love our First Family, they aren’t royalty, and we don’t want them to be. But, there is something to be said about the pomp and formality and glitz and history and the public bearing of the royals that we just don’t have here. The wedding was a spectacular event. Diana in particular was a beautiful young woman with a charming accent, and her marriage to Charles was a huge public event. Diana captured America’s attention.

2. Over the years, primarily because of Diana, we followed the royal marriage, the births of her children William and Harry, her divorce and life after the royals. William and Harry were just the cutest kids, and we shared in watching the boys grow up—Diana would make public appearances with them and we would follow them just like we’d follow any celebrity here. The family was extremely photogenic (well, at least Diana and the boys were).

3. After her divorce, Diana grew into her own person and did a lot of charity work around the world, taking her two sons with her. She appeared to be a down to earth person who was teaching her boys to also be down to earth and normal—she was aware of her privileged status and was teaching her boys through her charity work to be generous and caring toward others not like them. She was unlike any royal we had ever seen on this front. She was also a sympathetic figure—by the time she started building her own life, the stories of Charles’ and the royal family’s treatment of her, a woman who was only 19 when she married were well known over here—and we felt for her. She had our sympathy.

4. After her death, to see William and Harry at the funeral was heartbreaking. We had watched them grow up—and now they had lost their mother. It has to be remembered that Harry was about 14 and William was 16 or 17—still boys for the most part when they lost their mother. The generosity of heart they showed the British public during the mourning period and the funeral, the reaching out they did to the public, and their overall bearing was impressive considering how young they were and how much they had to be hurting. And yet, they managed to present themselves exceedingly well.

5. And, of course now as young adults, William and Harry continue to benefit from all that good will they built up as kids. Both of them as young men have, overall, built up lives that have been largely free of scandal and bad behavior, and are known for their charity work. Harry, of course, had his moments—the reports of hard partying and the Nazi costume hurt him a bit—but he has largely cleaned himself up and admitted to being in the wrong, even using his pain for a good cause with his mental illness initiatives. And of course, William never really had any missteps—all of his public appearances and public actions have been largely impressive and he comes off as a normal, likable, down to earth chap who genuinely seems to like people and is comfortable being in the spotlight.

William and Kate also were pretty close to our last President as well:

Picture: Getty Images

This article originally appeared on Quora.

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