Prince Harry’s ‘Biggest Regret’ Is How He Handled His Last Conversation With Mom Princess Diana Before Her Tragic Death: ‘I Have to Live With That’

“I had a mom taken away from me too soon. I have spoken openly about one of my biggest regrets is that last phone call I had with her,” Harry, 42, said in an interview published on Tuesday, October 20.

“If I had known it was the last call with her, how different that conversation would be,” he continued. “And I’m the one that has to live with that.”

The Duke of Sussex was only 12 years old when his mother died at age 36 in 1997 following a fatal car accident in Paris.

Harry said he felt guilt about the phone call because, at the time, all he “wanted to do was run and play with my cousins.”

Princess Diana was a mother to two sons, Prince Harry and Prince William.

The Spare author also explained that his reaction to his mother’s death was complicated due to growing up in the public eye.

“I mean, still to this day, people very often come up to me and say, ‘I remember exactly where I was on that day in 1997, 31st of August,’” he recalled.

Harry continued, “And when you’re surrounded by people and different generations, where they can remember exactly where they were when that happened, and then they look at me and/or my brother and go, ‘Wow, you guys were teenagers, not even, and this happened to you on such a public scale, where do you go from that?'”

Prince Harry said he experienced a mental shift when he realized that his mother, Princess Diana, would want him to be happy.

Despite the complicated emotions behind his mother’s tragic passing, Harry said the “least” he could do was assist others with navigating grief and “give some encouragement to people that when you are [at] rock bottom and when you’re finding things really, really hard, that you can come back from that.”

Harry admitted that he was “emotionally numb” and felt “guilt” about finding happiness in the years after his mother’s death. The U.K. native said he experienced a huge mental shift when he realized the late princess would encourage him to be happy.

Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, moved back to England in August.

“It freed me, and it gave me a whole different outlook on life,” he continued.

During the interview, Harry also touched on moving back to the U.K., saying he did it to be “closer” to his family.

“It’s nice to be back,” he said in a rare comment.

As OK! previously reported, Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, moved back to England with their two children in August. The big move comes as Harry’s father, King Charles, continues to battle cancer.