Harry: I want to do a job Diana would be proud of
PRINCE Harry has spoken of his yearning to fill the hole his mother’s death left in his life by doing things that would have made her proud.
The fifth in line to the throne, who was 12 when his mother Princess Diana died in a Paris car crash in August 1997, opened up in an interview ahead of his second Invictus Games, due to start in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday. Harry, who created the international Paralympic- style games to help troops injured in wars, told the US magazine People how much his mother’s death has influenced him and his elder brother William.
“All I want to do is make my mother incredibly proud,” he told the magazine. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. When she died, there was a gaping hole, not just for us but also for a huge amount of people across the world,” he added. “If I can try and fill a very small part of that, then job done. I will have to, in a good way, spend the rest of my life trying to fill that void. And so will William.”
Harry, who played polo in Palm Beach, Florida, yesterday to raise money for his African Aids orphans charity Sentebale, talked about his desire to have children eventually – “no rush” and his memories of visiting Disney World in Orlando with Diana and William. He insisted he does not model himself on his mother’s charitable work but admitted: “I’ve got a lot of my mother in me. I do a lot of things that she would probably do.”
He said many youngsters find it difficult to believe he is a prince.
“Every time I get to meet kids and they have been told a real- life prince is coming, the disappointment on their faces when they see me without a crown or a cape…” he said, smiling.