Prince Harry has opened up about being unable to express his grief over Princess Diana’s death for two decades. He reflected on his childhood loss and anxieties around his mother’s death. The prince opened up about it in a MasterClass with neuroscientist Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor.
Prince Harry admits he spent years suppressing his grief over Princess Diana’s death in new MasterClass
The Hollywood Reporter says that Prince Harry discussed the mental health aspects of grief. He spoke in a new MasterClass titled “Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss”.
Princess Diana died in a tragic crash when Harry was just 12. He reflected on the Paris car crash in August 1997.
“I didn’t cry when I was told my mum died,” he said. Harry continued, “Only at her burial, and then not again for nearly two decades.” “I was convinced that was strength, but it wasn’t. It was a 12-year-old boy with no permission to fall apart and no roadmap for how to heal.”
Harry also discussed the impact of the public reaction on both the brothers.
“Within five days of my mother’s death, there was thousands of people laying flowers down outside Kensington Palace, and we went out to greet them. Looking back on it now, I felt as though my brother [Prince William] and I were intermediaries for these people’s grief towards our mother, and they were showing more emotion than we could,” he said.
“It felt very, very strange for the hundreds of hands that we shook to be soaking wet with tears that they wiped away from their own faces. I almost felt guilty that I was unable to show the same emotion as these people who were crying for someone they’d never even met.”
Harry recalled finally breaking down at Diana’s burial.
“I cracked to the point of where I cried, and I remember thinking or feeling that it actually felt really good to cry,” he said.
He concluded with what he would tell his younger self: “If I could go back and have a moment with my younger self, it would be to give 12-year-old Harry a hug and tell him that everything’s going to be OK.”
