Prince Harry becomes emotional as he opens up about ‘amusing’ Archie and Lilibet

LEAVE A COMMENT Prince Harry was almost moved to tears as he spoke about his two children, Archie and Lilibet, and the bond they share.

The Duke of Sussex became emotional as he spoke about a photo he had taken of his son and daughter himself.

The image shows the siblings side by side, walking barefoot along the sand against a mountain setting. Archie, seven, is carrying a long stick, and holding his younger sister's hand.

"I love this photo. I took this photo. This was just before Archie's birthday. The two of them, brother and sister, at peace with each other in nature fills my heart," Harry said.

"I'm proud that we've got this far. You know, super happy that I've got two healthy, beautiful, amusing, very funny kids.

"Becoming a father is an emotional rollercoaster. I wish I'd known how hard being a father was going to be. But I wouldn't change it for the world.

"I think the advice I would have given to myself is, 'Hold on tight, because it's gonna be one hell of a ride.'"

Harry made his comments in Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss, a MasterClass in which he joined neuroscientist Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor to explore how grief affects the brain and body and how people learn to live with loss.

He also spoke about another important photograph – one of his late mother Princess Diana. The Duke revealed that he often looks at a particular portrait of Diana and wonders what she would think of his life today.

"I can actually get eye contact from her, and there's a cheekiness in her smile… I just feel very connected to her," Harry said of the photograph, taken by acclaimed French photographer Patrick Demarchelier.

"I find myself looking at her and wondering, what is she thinking about what I am doing right now?" he shared.

Harry further revealed that in the days after Diana's death, he found it difficult to look at any images of her.

"Even though I had photographs in my bedroom at school, I distinctly remember not thinking about my mother because thinking about something that sad was never gonna bring her back," he recalls.

And, he said, for years he struggled to allow himself to feel happiness without Diana.

''I'd spent so long emotionally numb, to a large extent, because I felt disloyal and guilty for the possibility of being happy and joyful without her," Harry said. "I felt like I had to be sad and I had to be emotionally numb in order to prove to her that I missed her."

Elsewhere in the MasterClass, Harry admitted: "I didn't cry when I was told my mum died, only at her burial, and then not again for nearly two decades. I was convinced that was strength, but it wasn't. It was a 12-year-old boy with no permission to fall apart and no roadmap for how to heal.

"You would think I had the best help in the world. I'm a prince for God's sake, but I was still grieving and didn't have any place to put those feelings."

Harry's MasterClass came weeks after Diana's younger brother, Charles Spencer, released Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, his own account of his sister's life and the tumultuous days following her death.

The Earl said he felt compelled to put pen to paper ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana's death in August 2027.

But the book has proved controversial – including claims about King Charles's reaction to news of the Princess's death.

In an interview with CBS this week, Charles admitted he didn't inform his nephews, William and Harry, that he was soon to release a book about their mother.

"I decided not to have anyone involved in the book, so nobody knew about it except my wife and the publishers," the Earl began. "I didn't tell any of the family until just before it was released publicly, because I didn't want anyone to think, particularly with Harry, who people know I had to stay in the summer, that he was in any way involved in this."

Gayle King then asked if the princes approved of the book, now that they know it exists.

"I don't know about. I haven't asked about approval," Charles began, before adding that Prince Harry had concerns about it. "Harry was sort of like, 'Is there anything in there that would be embarrassing to me?' I said, 'Absolutely not.' You know, I'm very specific about people's privacy."

The book has been well received by readers, with the deeply personal account of the late Princess of Wales becoming the UK's bestselling hardback non-fiction book in 2026, having sold 102,668 copies.

The reception from the royals has been altogether less positive.

King Charles quickly shot down his former brother-in-law's claims in the book, via a statement from the palace, which read: "While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss."

Earl Spencer shot back once more on CBS, telling host Gayle King: "They [the palace] have to sort of pretend there’s something wrong with my mind or my memory. There’s nothing wrong with either."

Prince Harry is said to be considering a number of projects to mark the 30th anniversary of his mother’s death. Among them is the possibility of a documentary about Diana.

While nothing has yet been confirmed, it's said that Netflix is in the running to make the project, and Harry has reportedly already started to reach out to family members and friends connected to Diana for their contributions.

However, Prince William has taken a wholly different view.

According to The Times, the future King will not make a film about his mother, and has declined 'several offers to make or appear in documentary tributes'.

It is understood that William also wants to avoid a situation where he and Harry, who remain estranged, are "pitted against each other" during film-making.

Friends of William’s told the publication that next year's anniversary is "a difficult situation for him", and that he remains "really emotional" about his mother's death.

The Prince also regards the documentaries he contributed to for the 20th anniversary of Diana's death in 2017 as his 'final catharsis'.

It is not known whether William will publicly mark the occasion. But friends believe he is most likely to mark it in private.

For the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2017, William and Harry collaborated on two documentaries about their mother for the BBC and ITV.

At a Kensington Palace screening for the ITV documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, William explained why he and Harry considered the film to be their final public word on Diana, telling guests, “We won’t speak as openly about her again.”

During the film, the brothers also described their attempts to deal with their grief.

"There’s not many days that go by that I don’t think of her … My mother lives with me every day," William said. Harry, meanwhile, recalled how Diana "smothered us with love" and said "there's a lot of grief that still needs to be let out".

The two siblings are now estranged and were last seen together at the funeral of their uncle, Lord Robert Fellowes, in Snettisham, Norfolk, on August 28, 2024. But they sat on opposite sides of the aisle, kept their distance and reportedly did not speak to each other.

They were last seen together publicly at their father's coronation in May 2023. Despite taking part in the same procession, they were seated separately inside Westminster Abbey; the Duke of Sussex sat two rows behind his brother, alongside his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

The brothers did not make eye contact or speak during the televised service, and Harry left the UK almost immediately afterwards to return to California for his son Archie's birthday.

William has spoken about how he keeps the memory of his mother alive for his three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.

He has said he often speaks to them about “Granny Diana” to keep her memory alive and "remind them that there are two grandmothers … in their lives and so it's important that they know who she was and that she existed".

In March 2021, to mark Mother's Day, Kensington Palace published cards made by Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis for Diana.

In her card, Charlotte, then five, wrote: “Dear Granny Diana, I am thinking of you on Mother’s Day. I love you very much. Papa is missing you. Lots of love Charlotte xxxxxxxxx.”

George, then seven, wrote: "Dear Granny Diana, Happy, happy mothers day. I love you very much and think of you always, Sending lots of love from George xxxxx." Little Louis, aged three, painted on a heart shape and added animal stickers.

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