Prince Harry says the press is the “worst reminder” of the death of his mother, Princess Diana. He opened up about his ongoing conflicts with the press and the pressures of growing up in the spotlight in an interview for ITV’s upcoming documentary, “Harry & Meghan: An African Journey.”
The Duke of Sussex revealed to ITV’s Tom Bradby that his grief over his mother’s death is still “a wound that festers.”
“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,” said Harry, who was 12 years old when his mother died in 1997. “In that respect, it’s the worst reminder of her life as opposed to the best.”
Reflecting on his recent trip with his wife Meghan to Africa, Harry said that his actions are a constant reminder of his mother.
During the trip, Harry emotionally retraced Diana’s footsteps. He walked through a former minefield in Angola that Diana famously visited just months before she died in a car crash in Paris attempting to escape the paparazzi.
“Being here now, 22 years later, trying to finish what she started will be incredibly emotional,” Harry said of his trip. “But, everything that I do reminds me of her. But as I said — with the role, with the job, and sort of the pressures that come with that — I get reminded of the bad stuff.”
The full documentary premieres on Britain’s ITV this Sunday. In it, Bradby also asks Meghan about her struggles with the British press following her marriage to Harry. She said it has been particularly challenging going through pregnancy and motherhood under the scrutiny of the paparazzi.
“Not many people have asked if I’m OK,” Meghan said.
Earlier this month, the Duchess of Sussex took legal action against the Mail on Sunday tabloid newspaper over what Harry called a “ruthless campaign” to smear Meghan.
“Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences — a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son,” Harry wrote in an unprecedented statement.
“My deepest fear is history repeating itself,” he wrote. “I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces,” he said.
The lawsuit is being privately funded by the couple. The statement said any monetary damages resulting from the case would be donated to an anti-bullying charity.
