When Princess Diana was tragically killed in a car accident in 1997, the world mourned. But her death had a profound effect on her two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, who were just 15 and 12, respectively, at the time.
In recent years, both the princes have opened up publicly about how they were affected by their mother’s death in their efforts to raise awareness about mental health. Now, in a preview clip for the BBC special A Royal Team Talk: Tackling Mental Health, which features a conversation with British soccer stars, William is more candid than ever. “I think when you are bereaved at a very young age, anytime really, but particularly at a young age—I can resonate closely to that—you feel a pain like no other pain,” he says.”And you know that in your life it’s going to be very difficult to come across something that is going to be an even worse pain than that.”
Prince William and Prince Harry during the funeral procession for Princess Diana.
AFP/Getty Images“It also brings you so close to all those other people out there who have been bereaved,” William continued. “So instantly, when you talk to someone else… You can almost see it in their eyes sometimes.” He wants people to feel more comfortable sharing their pain in hopes of being able to help one another. “There has to be a moment for that,” William says, referring to having that British “stiff upper lip.” “We’re not robots.”
Prince Harry also talked about feeling the loss of Diana after the birth of his first son, Archie, with Meghan Markle. “He said missing a mother is like missing some kind of security, how you need that as a son, and it falls away when you lose your mother,” Dennis van der Stroon said of his conversation with Harry during a recent Invictus Games event in the Netherlands. “He said he meets a lot of people in his work who have lost a mother, father, sister, brother, or relatives, and when he hears their story, as he heard my story, he said he doesn’t feel so alone.”
While the circumstances are definitely sad, it really is wonderful to see the princes talk so openly about their grieving process as a way to encourage transparency and honest conversations around mental health—and directly affect the lives of others.
