My answer: Until the moment Luke reveals her family lineage to her, Leia has absolutely no idea she is even capable of using the Force. The memories she has of her mother are more like echoes through the Force rather than direct memory. It isn’t until she becomes more attune with her powers does she realize that she never actually met her mother.
What do you think?
It’s also possible that Leia gleaned images and impressions of her mother through the Force even after Padmé’s death. As Yoda tells Luke in The Empire Strikes Back: “Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future…the past…old friends long gone.” Even though Leia has no formal Jedi training until after Return of the Jedi, she could have learned about her mother through visions in the Force, which she then mistook for memories.
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