Harry: Every time I hear a camera click it reminds me of Mum
Her death is wound that still festers, says Prince
THE Duke of Sussex has revealed that he is reminded of his mother’s death every time he sees a photographer.
In an emotional interview, Prince Harry admitted that the fate of Princess Diana was still ‘a wound that festers’.
Harry, 35, said every time he hears a ‘click’ or sees a ‘flash’ of a camera it is the ‘worst reminder of her life’.
When asked by ITV News’ Tom Bradby if he has yet ‘found peace’ over the ordeal, Harry said that the grief still remains.
He said: ‘I think being part of this family, in this role, in this job, every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash it takes me straight back – so in that respect, it’s the worst reminder of her life as opposed to the best.’
Harry added that his tour of Africa with wife Meghan last month affected him greatly, but he bears the weight of losing his mother every day – particu larly when carrying out royal duties. He said: ‘Being here now 22 years later, trying to finish what she started, will be incredibly emotional – but everything that I do reminds me of her.
‘But as I said with the role, with the job, and the sort of pressures that come with that I get reminded of the bad stuff, unfortunately.’
In the one-hour documentary, Harry and Meghan: An African Journey, Bradby follows the royal couple and their son Archie on their recent tour of Africa. During their ten-day visit, The Duke took an emotional pilgrimage to Angola – where his late mother launched an anti-landmine campaign in what was her last major advocacy before her death.
The Prince retraced her footsteps, donning protective body armour and a visor just like his mother did 22 years earlier, to detonate a device in a partially-cleared field in Dirico, in the country’s south-east.
He walked into an area that was once an artillery base for anti-government forces which had mined the position in 2000, during the decades-long civil war which tore the country apart.
Like all those visiting the site being cleared by The Halo Trust, the same landmine clearance charity that worked with Diana, Harry had been briefed not to stray off the cleared lanes, touch anything or run.
Harry is now the age his mother was when she visited Huambo in 1997.
Speaking afterwards, he said: ‘Landmines are an unhealed scar of war. By clearing the landmines we can help this community find peace, and with peace comes opportunity.
‘Once heavily mined, the second city of Angola is now safe. With the right international support, this land around us here can also be like Huambo. A land free, diverse and dynamic, a thriving community, connected to and benefiting from all that it has to offer.’
There are around 1,200 minefields that still need clearing in Angola, an operation which could cost up to £350 million. Before Harry arrived at the minefield he visited in the African country, experts found yet another anti-personnel mine that had to be destroyed. The prince was allowed to destroy it himself by setting off a controlled explosion.
It comes just weeks after Harry launched an extraordinary attack on the Press, comparing recent media coverage of his wife to that given to his late mother.
He said in a statement issued at the start of this month: ‘My deepest fear is history repeating itself.
‘I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person.’
Harry and Meghan: An African Journey will air on ITV on Sunday at 9pm.
‘A wound that festers’