Prince Harry’s emotional new interview: ‘Eats you away’

The Duke of Sussex spoke candidly about his years-long struggle in a frank 18-minute conversation, filmed during his return to the UK.

IN LONDON

Prince Harry has opened up about his ongoing struggle with the devastating loss of his mother, Princess Diana.

The Duke of Sussex, 39, spoke candidly in a new interview as part of his role as global ambassador for Armed Forces charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers – supporting children who have lost parents in the military – admitting that “grief eats you away”.

In a filmed conversation with widowed mother and charity founder Nikki Scott, recorded in May during his brief UK visit, Harry went into detail about losing his beloved mother at the age of 12 and offered advice to other bereaving families.

Harry opened up about the grief of losing a parent. Picture: YouTube

He said he spent nearly two decades “not thinking” about her death and was forced to eventually get help after years of “total chaos”. Harry added that it was hard for a young child to want to celebrate a departed parent’s life, as it made them “sad”.

“But ­realising if I do talk about it, and I’m celebrating their life, then things become easier,” he said.

Harry went on: “You convince yourself that the person you’ve lost wants you, or you need to be sad for as long as possible to prove to them that they are missed … But then there’s this realisation of, no, they must want me to be happy”.

During another moment during the video, Harry was seen taking part in activities with a group of 50 children – at one point telling them that it was best not to suppress grief “forever” as it will “eat away at you inside”.

The duke spoke with the charity’s founder, Nikki Scott. Picture: YouTube

Scotty’s Little Soldiers was founded by Ms Scott following the death of her husband, Corporal Lee Scott, at the age of 26 in Afghanistan in 2009. He left behind two young children, Kai, five, and Brooke, who was then six months old.

“I’m welling up now,” she said as she recalled the moment she’d had to share the devastating news with her son.

“I literally shattered his world,” she said, prompting an emotional Harry to reply: “You’re setting everybody else off as well”.

He then told her how much he admired her work, describing the charity as “incredible”.

“It is truly inspirational. I’m really honoured and privileged to be part of Scotty’s now and I really look forward to us doing everything we can to bring in more people, more interest, raise more funds and be able to get the message out there to get more kids the support they so desperately need,” he told her.