Harry, like me, you can rebuild your life
No oNE was more saddened and shocked when our dear Princess Diana was killed in Paris than me. But I am getting heartily sick of hearing Prince Harry bleating about how it has had a long-term effect on him, despite all the care, privileges and endless pampering he has enjoyed throughout his life. When I was 23, my 27-year-old husband died suddenly within five days of becoming ill. We had a five-year-old who had just started school and a three-month-old baby. My husband had been working until a week before his death. This was 1972, there was no bereavement counselling for spouses or children. We were awarded £14 a week to live on and left to our own devices. When child benefit was increased by £1 a week, this was deducted from my widowed mother’s allowance! My five-year-old bravely carried on at school and dealt with her own grief, while I handled mine. She is now a lovely woman who has never once complained about our lot and all the things she did without in her childhood. It makes me so cross when people like Prince Harry blame all their shortcomings on what happened to them as a child. You need to grasp the nettle and make what you can of your life. Change the ‘poor me’ tune, which gets tiring after all these years. My family and I survived and had many happy times despite lots of setbacks.
We often laugh about me sending the children to school with carrier bags taped over their shoes when it snowed because they didn’t have wellies. Such experiences didn’t affect their mental health. I managed to go to night school and then train as a nurse. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, that’s for sure. I do hope Prince Harry finds happiness, but he needs to grow a backbone and move on. only then will he get the respect he deserves instead of useless, simpering sympathy. Mrs SIMONE DAVIES, Bournemouth, Dorset.