Prince Harry ‘regrets not speaking about Princess Diana’s death’

Prince Harry has told of his regret that he did not speak about the death of his mother, Princess Diana, until three years ago.

The prince was asked by footballer Rio Ferdinand, whose wife died last year, about the possible impact of that on his children, and replied: "I really regret not ever talking about it."

Prince Harry was hosting an event for mental health charity, Heads Together.

The Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash in 1997, when Harry was 12.

But the prince said he did not speak about losing his mother "for the first 28 years of my life".

Prince Harry formed Heads Together with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to bring together leading mental health charities.
The event was attended by sports stars including Ferdinand, athletes Kelly Holmes and Ewan Thomas, and cyclist Victoria Pendleton — some of whom have spoken publicly about dealing with depression.

'Not a weakness'

The prince told BBC Breakfast: "It is OK to suffer, but as long as you talk about it. It is not a weakness. Weakness is having a problem and not recognising it and not solving that problem."
He said the event was an opportunity to show that "unflappable" sporting personalities can suffer from mental health problems like everyone else, including members of the Royal Family.

"A lot of people think if you've got a job, if you've got financial security, if you've got a family, you've got a house, all that sort of stuff, everyone seems to think that is all you need and you are absolutely fine to deal with stuff," he said.

He added: "It is very easy for someone to look at someone like Rio Ferdinand and say, 'You get paid all the money in the world, you are a successful footballer, you have fast cars.' But at the end of the day his wife was snatched from him at an early stage of his life with her.

"So of course he is going to suffer, it doesn't matter if he has an amazing job."

Father-of-three Ferdinand — whose wife Rebecca Ellison died from cancer last year — spoke to the prince about dealing with the death of a parent.

The former England and Manchester United footballer said: "He's gone through different stages in his life that my kids are going to be going towards.

"So to get some of his experiences is very rewarding for me and very educational in many ways."