Prince Harry disclosed for the first time how his father broke the news of his mother’s death. He and his brother, Prince Willian, also revealed their reactions to the sad news that their mother, Princess Diana, has been killed in an accident.
The Princes opened up in a new BBC documentary which will be broadcast on Sunday. The documentary sees the Princes speak with raw honesty about their emotions at the time.
They gave a vivid account of how they had to conceal their devastation amid the extraordinary outpouring of public grief.
They also spoke of their shock and bewilderment at the “peculiar” scale of public mourning. William says he was “disorientated, dizzy… and very confused”, adding: “I remember just feeling completely numb.
And you keep asking yourself ‘why me?’ all the time. ‘What have I done?'” Harry says his reaction to being told the news was one of “disbelief”, and there was “no sudden outpouring of grief”.
The brothers also revealed how hard it was having to walk behind his mother’s coffin at the funeral, with William recalling that it was “the hardest things I have ever had to do” and he “just wanted to go into a room and cry”.
He added: “I just remember hiding behind my fringe basically, at a time when I had a lot of hair, and my head’s down a lot.” They praised their father for being there for them and for making attempts to comfort them during the trying period.
Prince Harry says: “One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died. But he was there for us, he was the one out of two left and he tried to do his best and to make sure we were protected and looked after. But, you know, he was going through the same grieving process as well.”