As tributes poured in for Princess Diana on the anniversary of her tragic death, Prince Harry spoke about the regret that has stayed with him since he was just 12 years old.
In the documentary Diana, Our Mother, Harry recalled the last time he spoke to his mother, who died in a car accident in Paris on 31 August 1997. He admitted the conversation was painfully short.
“I can’t really, necessarily, remember what I said,” he explained. “But all I do remember is probably, you know, regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was. And if I’d known that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother – the things I would have said to her.”
Prince Harry and his brother Prince William had been at Balmoral on their summer holiday with their father, Charles, when the devastating news reached them.
Prince William also reflected on his own experience of loss, saying he felt “completely numb, disoriented and dizzy” after his mother’s death. “You feel very, very confused. And you keep asking yourself, ‘Why me? Why? What have I done? Why? Why has this happened to us?’”
Though the brothers shared their grief in the past, their relationship has since grown strained. Many believe that if Diana were still alive, their bond today might look very different.
