Prince Harry following his mother’s death in 1997
Prince Harry said he only cried once, at the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997.
And in a new clip from a promotional interview for his autobiography, Prince Harry explains how he and his brother, Prince William, were unable to show their feelings to mourners during their mother’s funeral.
In an interview with Tom Bradley on ITV, Harry said he cried at his mother’s burial.
The Duke of Sussex said he felt “a little guilty” as he walked among those at the funeral service, as they laid flowers outside Kensington Palace.
Harry focused on the absence of his mother, Princess Diana, during his memoirs.
The memoirs are not supposed to be published before the tenth of this month, but excerpts from them were leaked and published following copies of the memoirs were sold early in Spain.
The BBC obtained a copy of the memoirs and is translating them.
In an interview with British ITV, to be broadcast on Sunday, Harry said “everyone knew where they were” when his mother died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
He said that days following the funeral, he reviewed the photos that were published of him and his brother during the ceremony.
“I cried once, during the burial, and you know I detailed (in the diary) what it was like, and how I had some guilt, and I think William felt the same, walking around Kensington,” he said.
“There were regarding 50,000 bouquets of roses for our mother and a lot of handshakes, with people and smiles, and the wet hands that we shook. We didn’t know why they were wet, but it was because of the tears that I wiped,” he added.
Harry added, “Everyone felt they knew our mother, while the two people closest to her and the two people she loved most were unable to show their feelings, during that moment.”
The diaries include details of Prince Harry’s walk at his mother’s funeral, what mourners spoke to him, and how it felt while he was unable to cry during the funeral.
He also wrote regarding the details of his request for a private driver to drive the car for him in the same tunnel that witnessed his mother’s car accident and death in Paris.
He said his father did not embrace him following the breaking news of his mother’s death, and as he lay in his bed at Balmoral Palace.
image copyright Itv
Some clips from Prince Harry’s memoirs were leaked before they were published
Also in the memoirs, there is a claim by Prince Harry that his brother attacked him physically, how his first sexual relations were, details of his drug use, and his claim of killing 25 Taliban fighters during his service in Afghanistan.
Harry’s claims of killing 25 Taliban fighters have been criticized by a number of veterans.
Former officer Tim Collins, known for his military speeches during the Iraq war and for asking officers to “show respect”, said Prince Harry had “let us down badly” and it was “not our pattern of behavior in the military”.
The royal family said it would not comment on the contents of the notes.
Prince Harry and his wife, Megan, had announced their renunciation of their royal duties in 2020, and said that they were planning to become financially independent.
The couple gave a televised interview with the famous American broadcaster, Oprah Winfrey, last year, during which they explained the difficulties that faced their relationship with members of the royal family, in addition to a documentary series, for the Netflix network, which was broadcast last month, which clarified more details.
