Prince William has paid tribute to his late mother Princess Diana on Britain’s Mother’s Day.

The Prince of Wales, 43, marked the day with a photograph of him as a child with his mother, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 when William was just 15.

The photograph – taken at the family’s Highgrove home in 1984 – shows a toddler William in a field of flowers, holding hands with his mother.

“Remembering my mother, today and every day. Thinking of all those who are remembering someone they love today. Happy Mother’s Day. W”, he wrote.

There was no family photograph from the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children to mark the day this year.

It follows controversy over the picture posted to mark the day in 2024, when Kate was recovering from surgery and being treated for cancer. While appearing to be a touching photo of the princess with children George, Charlotte and Louis, it quickly ignited a storm of claims about digital manipulation.

Kate took responsibility for the furore, releasing a brief – and rare – public statement apologising for the “confusion” caused by her editing.

“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing,” she wrote on social media.

“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”

Meanwhile, the King and Queen also marked this year’s Mother’s Day on Instagram.

They posted pictures of the King’s mother Queen Elizabeth II – who died in 2022 – and the Queen with her late mother Rosalind Shand.

“Wishing Mothers everywhere, and those who might be missing their Mums today, a restful Mothering Sunday,” they wrote.

Meanwhile, William’s brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have blasted claims made about them in a new royal book as “deranged conspiracy”, including an allegation that the Queen had told friends that Meghan Markle had “brainwashed Harry”.

A spokesperson for the couple – who have lived in California since stepping down as working royals in 2020 – has stated that Tom Bower’s forthcoming book Betrayal: Power, Deceit And The Fight For The Future Of The Royal Family has “crossed the line from criticism into fixation”.

Extracts from the book appeared in Britain’s Times newspaper at the weekend, ahead of its publication later this month. Along with the claim about the Queen, it also alleges that a former Invictus Games executive claimed Meghan was a distraction from injured veterans and described her as “bling, not rehabilitation”.

“This is someone who has publicly stated, ‘the monarchy in fact depends on actually obliterating the Sussexes from our state of life’, language that speaks for itself,” a spokesperson for the duke and duchess said.

“He has made a career out of constructing ever more elaborate theories about people he does not know and has never met.

“Those interested in facts will look elsewhere; those seeking deranged conspiracy and melodrama know exactly where to find him.”

-with AAP