In honor of Diana

Matt Lauer: So as you have this opportunity to kind of set the agenda what is it that you want people to stop and think about at ten years about your mom?
Prince Harry: Think it's to talk, just to see; just to understand what she did during her life. 
Prince William: You know we wanted to mark it in a specifically special way, I mean organizing a concert in the way we're doing and with the memorial service in August. Together they're fitting.  One or the other we wouldn't be happy with.  Because the balance is not there.
Matt Lauer: But you don't want just a party.
Prince William: No exactly.
Matt Lauer: Right.
Prince William: We want to have both because then it does.  It accomplishes actually what we feel.  She's in life and what we feel we've learned and what she brought to the world.  And that's very much what we want to get across.

The memorial service will be held on August 31, the tenth anniversary of their mother's death. But well before, on July 1, there will be a concert at Wembley Stadium to celebrate what would have been Diana's 46th birthday.

There are some performers she would have no doubt have invited herself, such as Duran Duran, who she often described as her favorite band, and Elton John, who was a close friend, and the English National Ballet, of which she was a prominent patrons. The concert will benefit three charities: one in Diana's name and two others that William and Harry sponsor.

Matt Lauer: So the concert -- you guys have been extraordinarily involved in it every aspect.  This isn't a case of the two sons signing off on it at the last minute.  What, did you want to accomplish with this concert?
Prince William: We basically the idea came from just both of us talking and again saying that you know, we didn't want to have just a memorial service.  We wanted to have a concert for her life and energy and all things that we thought she brought.  And so this was the -- sort of the best way of doing it.

They've attended to every detail, even the photo of their mother that graces the concert's Web site. It's part of a shoot by renowned fashion photographer Mario Testino; what turned out to be the last photo shoot of Diana's short life.

Prince William: She's become iconic with his photographs and everyone sees that.  And so we wanted to find one that really stood out in our minds that was that sort of was her.  You know her smiling through and her happiness and all that sort of thing.
Prince Harry: Every single photo had something special about it.  And this one was sort of you know it wasn't sad to look at and it wasn't sort of over-the-top happy. It was just perfect. It was you know casual, dignified. It was the one that was most natural to us without her sort of.
Matt Lauer: It reminded you most of your mom.
Prince William: It was the face that we've seen you know from her.

They know as well as anyone that Diana's public image has always been complicated. She was the people's princess, at once glamorous and down-to-earth, beloved by millions. But, especially after her death, a seemingly endless series of tell-all books and articles by former staff members, even former lovers, has also painted her as grasping, neurotic, deeply troubled.

It's been reported that William in particular was outraged when people who had been close to his mother turned on her.

Prince William: Harry and I are both quite upset about it, that our mother's trust has been betrayed, and that even now she's still being exploited. There's always people out there who want to make money.  And that's their certain choice and method is to do it this way.
Matt Lauer: So it's become a cottage industry.
Prince William: Yeah.

Her sons hope the concert celebrating her life will help bring her image back into what they consider an accurate focus.

Matt Lauer: As you guys are sitting at this concert, and I would imagine you'll have pretty good seats, what's going to be going through your mind?
Prince William: "Please, God, be a success."
Matt Lauer: Well, what will qualify that?  How will you know if it's a success?  Is it ticket sales?  Is it the look on people's faces as they walk back out of the stadium?
Prince William: Yeah, I think…
Prince Harry: It's the whole thing, isn't it?
Prince William: …it's the look that people give exactly as they come out.  The feeling that everyone got.  And at the same time, that we've actually got across our message both, you know, what our mother meant to us and what we believe that she represented.
Prince Harry: I just think the concert is the perfect opportunity for people to celebrate her life rather than her death, if you know what I mean.
Matt Lauer: And if the people leave the stadium talking only about the music and not stopping to talk about your mom, is that okay, too?
Prince Harry: It's understandable.
Prince William: It's, you know -- there will be people there who are coming because it's a concert and not because of her.  But I genuinely believe that there'll be lots of people there who have come for her and want to, you know, see what they can get out of it.  And I really hope that everyone just leaves with a really nice, warm feeling and are going, "Yeah, that was the Princess of Wales I remember, that's her.  That was the Diana I remember."

William and Harry say they plan to be on stage for the concert. They are two young men who are serious, generous and with a mischievous sense of fun. In those ways they are so very like their mother.

This interview aired Dateline June 18, 2007.

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