MISSING HIS MUM, YOU REALISE WHY HARRY WENT OFF THE RAILS
FOR years, we’ve watched as Prince Harry has tried (and often failed) to square his royal duties and responsibilities with the seemingly relentless pursuit of fun and excitement.
It now seems that Diana might, inadvertently, be to blame.
‘She was one of the naughtiest parents. She would come and watch us play football and, you know, smuggle sweets into our socks,’ he says. ‘One of her mottos to me was: ‘‘You can be as naughty as you want – just don’t get caught!’’.’
Which is all very well when applied to illicit sweets and practical jokes. But it works less well for a rudderless and reckhe less teenager constitutesfor whom under-age ‘naughtiness’ drinking, cannabis or (later) naked parties in Las Vegas.
When Diana died, Harry was just 12. Life as he knew it was smashed to bits. His mother’s death property becameand he everybodywas woefully else’s ill-equipped to deal with it. The shock to such a young boy must have been unimaginable. He says he has cried just once for her in the 20 years since. As puts it himself: ‘My way of dealing with it was – was by just basically shutting it out, locking it out.’
Instead, he rebelled. He fell out of nightclubs, he wore Nazi fancy dress outfits, he had a drunken wrestle with friends covered in vomit, he was barred from a pub for allegedly calling a barman a ‘f ****** frog’… the list goes on and on.
But recently he seems to have turned a corner and is addressing his mother’s death.
‘I can feel the hugs that she used to give us and… you know... I miss that,’ he said.
Finally, he has learned how to grieve and to talk about all he has lost in a way that will make any parent weep and forgive him every bit of silliness he’s ever committed.