Prince Harry is reaching out to children who have suffered the loss of a parent. The Duke of Sussex wrote a heartbreaking foreward to a book for children who are grieving a parent amid COVID-19.
In Hospital by the Hill, Harry reveals how he struggled to accept the death of his mom Princess Diana, who died in 1997 when he was 12 – and how he hopes the book will provide “comfort in knowing you are not alone.”
“When I was a young boy I lost my mum,” Harry writes. “At the time I didn't want to believe it or accept it, and it left a huge hole inside of me. I know how you feel, and I want to assure you that over time that hole will be filled with so much love and support. We all cope with loss in a different way, but when a parent goes to heaven, I was told their spirit, their love and the memories of them do not. They are always with you and you can hold onto them forever. I find this to be true.”
He adds, “Now, I never met them, but I know this person was special to you, and they were someone incredibly kind, caring and loving because of where they chose to work. Helping others is one of the most important jobs anyone can ever do.
“You may feel alone, you may feel sad, you may feel angry, you may feel bad. This feeling will pass. And I will make a promise to you – you will feel better and stronger once you are ready to talk about how it makes you feel.”
Harry has previously spoken about how burying his grief was the worst thing he could do; his brother, Prince William, urged him to seek professional help when he was 28, and he says it made a huge difference.
CRISIS TALKS
Prince Charles, Harry’s father, took the lead in crisis talks between Meghan and Harry and the rest of the royals following their historic interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Royal expert Robert Jobson said: “The Queen is 94 and the Duke of Edinburgh is incapacitated, so he will be trying to placate and learn lessons from this so something can be worked out to everyone’s satisfaction. The royal family like to do things as a team, and if the team is being trashed they like to react as a unit and a family.”
The Queen said of the racism allegations the pair raised: “Whilst some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”
She has reportedly hired a “diversity czar” to engage in “listen and learn” exercise in which the royals will “seek independent views” on how it can improve diversity efforts encompassing minorities and the LGBT community, the sources said.
“This is an issue which has been taken very seriously across the Households,” a palace source reportedly told the Mail on Sunday. “We have the policies, procedures and programs in place but we haven’t seen the progress we would like and accept more needs to be done. We can always improve. We are not afraid to look at new ways of approaching it. The work to do this has been under way for some time now and comes with the full support of the family.”