Nearly three decades after Princess Diana's death, Prince Harry has opened up about his lasting bond with his mother and the grief he carried for years.
In an interview with GQ editor Zach Baron, the Duke of Sussex explained how therapy helped him process his loss, come to terms with their final phone call and find comfort in keeping her memory alive.
Diana died in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997, when Harry was just 12.
Harry Reflects On His Biggest Regret
Prince Harry said, in the interview, that he thinks about Princess Diana almost every day and sometimes seeks answers from her in his thoughts.
“Sometimes there's questions that I ask her, looking for some kind of response, and sometimes I do get a response,” he told GQ, adding that he still feels a strong connection to his mother.
Harry also spoke about his final phone call with Diana, which took place just hours before her death in 1997. He was at Balmoral with the Royal Family and wanted to end the call to play with his cousins, unaware that it would be their last conversation.
“If I'd known it was the last call with her, how different that conversation would've been,” he said.
Harry has described the call as one of his biggest regrets, reflecting on how he could not have known at the time that he would never speak to his mother again.
Nearly 30 years after Diana's death, Harry said people still tell him where they were when they heard the news. He hopes that sharing his own experiences will help others going through difficult times.
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Therapy Helped Harry
For years, Prince Harry struggled with the idea of being happy while grieving for his mother, Princess Diana. He feared that moving on with his life might mean forgetting her or betraying her memory.
Therapy helped him understand that grief never truly goes away. “I've learned to, I guess, accept and understand that you don't ever get over grief. You learn to live with it,” Harry said.
In a MasterClass titled Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss, featuring neuroscientist Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor, Harry revealed that he did not cry when he first learned of Diana's death but wept at her burial. He then went nearly 20 years without crying again.
He said therapy helped him face the emotions he had kept inside for years. “Losing your mom really sucks, and you're allowed to cry about it,” he said. At the time, he often turned to friends and his military career to distract himself from his pain.
Becoming a father has also helped Harry see his loss differently. Raising Archie and Lilibet has given him a new perspective on grief and helped him find ways to honour Diana's memory.
“I love the fact that I'm able to now carry the memory of my mother with me, with my work, rather than it hold me down,” he said.
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Watch The Interview Here:
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