Prince Harry says he and William believed Diana’s death was a hoax ‘for years’

Prince Harry has revealed he and his brother believed their mother was still alive “for years” until he saw the police report into her death.

Prince Harry admits he and William spent “years” wondering whether the death of their mother, Princess Diana, was an elaborate escape plan, and that she would one day emerge unscathed.

The Duke of Sussex – who was only 12 years old when Diana died in 1997 – made the revelation during an interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes on Monday, following the release of explosive excerpts from his Spare memoir.

Sitting down with the US journalist, Harry said he carried the belief Diana had “a plan” to disappear for a while well into adulthood.

Harry says he and his brother had discussed a theory that Diana was still alive. Picture: Anwar Hussein/WireImage.

He told Cooper he believed this conspiracy for “many, many years” and that William had “similar thoughts”.

Eventually, when Harry was 20 years old, he asked to see the police report into the crash that killed his mother for “proof that she was in the car”.

He said the report contained pictures that proved the paparazzi who chased her into the tunnel were the same people who then took photos of her “lying half dead on the back seat of the car”.

Prince Harry said that for years after his mother Princess Diana’s death, he believed that she had disappeared and would one day return. Searching for proof, Harry asked to see the police files of the crash that caused his mother’s death. https://t.co/Pq5F644mVspic.twitter.com/s7MRFcuuU5

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) January 9, 2023

Reading an excerpt from Spare, Anderson asked: “You write; ‘I hadn’t been aware before this moment that the last thing Mummy saw on this earth was a flashbulb,’ … That’s what you saw in these pictures?”

Nodding, Harry responded: “The pictures showed the reflection of a group of photographers taking photographs through the window, and the reflection on the window was them.”

Harry went on to explain that while there were “more gruesome” photos of his mother in the report, his private secretary at the time discouraged him from looking at them.

“I will be eternally grateful to him for denying me the ability to inflict pain on myself by seeing that, because that’s the kind of stuff that sticks in your mind forever.”

Originally published as Prince Harry says he and William believed Diana’s death was a hoax ‘for years’