Prince Harry is still haunted by his late mother Diana’s death

Prince Harry is still haunted by his late mother Diana’s death

On August 31, 1997, people all over the globe watched in horror as Princess Diana was pulled from a vehicle wreck in Paris. She succumbed to her injuries at the nearby Pitie-Salpetriere University Hospital. One of the most famous women in the world, Diana was beloved by millions and the mother of two young sons. On January 8, Prince Harry gave a candid interview on ITV that revealed how Diana’s death has been impacting him to the present day.

Princes William and Harry were just 14 and 12 when they lost their mother. This tragic event will likely be a significant part of Harry’s memoir, Spare, which is due to be released on Tuesday, January 10. 

In the ITV interview, the Duke of Sussex shares the moment he learned his mother was no more. At Balmoral Castle, Harry’s father, King Charles III, woke him up to tell him the tragic news. Per his memoir, the young prince’s response was, “I began silently pleading with Pa, or God, or both, ‘No, no, no.’ Pa looked down into the folds of the old quilts and blankets and sheets.”

Harry details it was “very strange” when he and William walked among the mourners at Kensington Palace. He also shares that “the two closest people to her (the princes), the two most-loved people by her, were unable to show any emotion at that moment.” The brothers famously walked behind their mother’s coffin in one of the most poignant images of her funeral.

In his memoir, Harry discusses losing memories after Diana’s death. He deems this a “defense mechanism” and calls his emotional struggle a post-traumatic stress injury. He shares that he has had frequent dreams of his late mother and feels there are still numerous “unexplained” factors surrounding her death.

Harry has attempted to understand the circumstances of that terrible August night. He has even driven through the tunnel where his mother died to piece together what happened.

Losing Diana, along with how the British media and the paparazzi treated her, is one of the reasons Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped down from their royal duties and moved to the United States.

Prince Harry told interviewer Tom Bradby, “I never want to be in that position, part of the reason why we are here now, I never ever want to be in that position. I don’t want history to repeat itself. I do not want to be a single dad. And I certainly don’t want my children to have a life without a mother or a father.”

Cover Image: BBC via Getty