Princess Diana had given Prince William and Kate Middleton advice recorded on tapes. A new report claims that the late princess made the recordings for her firstborn and his future wife when she started fearing for her life.

U.S. magazine Globe reported that there are tapes that Diana herself had recorded for her son just months before she died in August 1997, urging William and Kate to "Cherish your children for me. Let them know I'll love them and watch over them."

Diana had never met Kate, but she imagined the woman who would capture her son's heart to be "beautiful, smart, and independent."

She allegedly told her future daughter-in-law in the tape, "I know I'd adore you and we'd be fast friends. You'd have to be someone truly special. If you weren't, you wouldn't be William's wife."

Her advice for Kate is to work at her marriage and survive the pressures of public life. Diana also allegedly warned William's future wife that being a queen would make their marriage harder.

Businesswoman Lana Marks, one of Diana's closest confidants, said that the content of the said tapes bore an uncanny resemblance to her discussion with Diana about William.

"Oh my God, I know her choice of words, the way she would say things and this sounds exactly like her," she told the magazine, as reported by the Daily Mail, when the content was read to her.

"I knew Diana very well during the last 18 months of her life. Diana discussed with me in great detail what she wanted for William in terms of a wife, children - what she wanted for his future.

"When I hear the contents off the tape, they echo what she discussed with me in great detail. It is uncanny."

Unlike Diana who was born into an aristocratic English family with royal ancestry, Kate is from a family of commoners. But that wouldn't make a difference to Diana.

"Kate is absolutely everything Diana wanted. She even said William's wife would have dark hair," Ms Marks, who had designed handbags for the Princess, said.

"Diana wanted someone down-to-earth for William, with a close family unit so he could enjoy a normal family life. She wanted a future queen of the people for the people."