‘Very difficult’: Prince William opens up on ‘most painful’ experience

Prince William has opened up about dealing with childhood grief after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, before going into “dad mode” during an appearance on a kids’ TV show in the UK.

Prince William has revealed he found it extremely difficult to focus on school and normal life as he opened up about the death of his mother, Princess Diana.

The future King paid a visit to Child Bereavement UK — a children’s bereavement charity where he’s a patron.

Prince William spoke about losing his mother, the late Princess Diana, at the young age of 15. She died in a car crash in August 1997 at the age of 36 while fleeing photographers in Paris.

“Sometimes the hardest thing about grief is finding the words for how you actually feel,” Prince William said, according to the Daily Mail.

Prince William spoke to young bereaved kids about dealing the death of his mother, Princess Diana. Picture: AFP

“It’s crucial for those first few years, particularly, [that] you have support like this … It’s got you in your practice, how to help yourself.”

“The mind gets focused on one thing, doesn’t it? It’s very difficult to do school and normal life,” he went on.

Prince William became patron of the children’s charity — founded by his late mother’s friend Julia Samuel — in 2009. Princess Diana previously served as patron up until her death in 1997.

“What my mother recognised back then — and what I understand now — is that grief is the most painful experience that any child or parent can endure,” the royal said.

The charity, which is in its 30th year of service, prides itself in supporting youngsters who are experiencing grief in their lives.

Prince William meets with the Child Bereavement UK team during a visit to the charity service to see its work in action. Picture: Getty Images

During his visit, William spoke with several teenagers who have leaned on the charity for support in previous years.

“He knows exactly the situation we’ve been in — he’s been in the same situation around our age as well. He really understood,” Rebecca, 17, said of the prince, according to The Times. “He seemed comfortable to be able to speak to us about stuff.”

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Daniel said the future king “was quite down to earth.”

“The charity thrives on fundraising and donations. It can’t offer support without them. You need people like the prince to raise awareness of what they do,” he added.

Last year, Prince William’s estranged brother, Prince Harry, opened up about losing their mother.

Prince William said “grief is the most painful experience that any child or parent can endure”. Picture: Getty Images

Recalling the tragedy, Harry, who was 12 years old at the time, said “things become easier” when children can talk about grief.

The Duke of Sussex, 40, stressed the importance of letting children speak freely about their emotions.

“That’s the hardest thing, especially for kids, I think, which is, ‘I don’t want to talk about it because it will make me sad, but once realising if I do talk about it, and I’m celebrating their life, then actually, things become easier as opposed to this, ‘I am just not going to talk about it and that’s best form of coping,’ when in fact it’s not,’” he said.

“It can be for a period of time. If you suppress this for too long, you cannot suppress it for ever, it is not sustainable and it will eat away at you inside.”

Meanwhile, the prince went into full “dad mode” when meeting the next generation of environmental advocates.

The Prince of Wales welcomed the five winners of the Blue Peter Earthshot Competition to Windsor Castle.

This competition, a collaboration between the BBC children’s show Blue Peter and the Earthshot Prize, invited children aged 5 to 15 to propose innovative solutions to environmental challenges.

The kids joined the royal for a Blue Peter “Here’s One I Made Earlier” moment, creating eco-friendly bird feeders together. The group cut out tree shapes from cardboard — and at one point, host Joel Mawhinney realised that the children were done with their work before himself and Prince William.

“Putting us to shame,” Mawhinney said, to which Prince William replied, “I know, seriously.”

The winners also got the chance to ask the royal questions about the Earthshot Prize. Speaking in a kid-friendly way, Prince William shared that he tries to reduce his carbon footprint at home by turning off the lights, not letting the water run and recycling.

One girl asked, “What has been your most interesting Earthshot idea?”

Prince William responded, “There’s been so many,” before explaining a project that created lab-grown coral reef that can withstand “super duper” hot temperatures.