Here’s my final post on the matter.
“The part that I had never really developed is the death of Luke and Leia’s mother. I had a back story for her in earlier drafts, but it basically didn’t survive. When I got to JEDI, I wanted one of the kids to have some kind of memory of her because she will be a key figure in the new episodes I’m writing.”
–George Lucas, Star Wars-The Return Of The Jedi: Annotated Screenplay, 1997
“Leia’s recollection as described in Return of the Jedi have no inherent flaws and are valid given the greater context of the saga. But I suspect those looking for contradictions always find them.”
–Rick McCallum