Prince Harry admits son Archie asked painful question about 'Grandma Diana'
The Duke of Sussex made a candid revelation about his five-year-old son Archie and Princess Diana as he spoke to reporters at the Invictus Games in Vancouver
The Duke of Sussex made a candid revelation about his five-year-old son Archie and Princess Diana as he spoke to reporters at the Invictus Games in VancouverHarry said Archie had wanted to see videos and photos of his grandmother
Prince Harry's son Archie never got the chance to meet his grandmother, Princess Diana. But he is eager to hear all about the late royal, according to his proud dad.
The Duke, 40, revealed at the Invictus Games on Sunday that Archie had asked to see photos and videos of Diana's famous landmine walk in Angola in January 1997.
During an interview with CTV, a Canadian television channel, Harry said: "Archie was asking about landmines so I was talking about how some of these guys [Invictus athletes] were blown up. I think IEDs [Improvised explosive devices] are probably a little much at this point but I found myself talking to him about mines when he was five years old."
He continued: "Interestingly, it gave me a chance to talk about my mum, his grandma, which I didn't even really consider so that became the outcome of the story for him.
Princess Diana famously walked through an active landmine in Angola in 1997 (
Image:
Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
"He wanted to see videos and photographs of his grandma Diana out doing her thing for landmines all those years ago. It produced a very interesting conversation between me and him, different to what I thought it would be."
Harry and William's mother Diana worked closely with The HALO Trust before her death in 1997. The trust works to clear landmines and other explosive devices left behind by conflicts. She also famously walked through an active landmine in Huambo, Angola, in a bid for an international ban. Harry went on to follow in his mother's footsteps, returning some 22 years later to the same minefield, to help bring further awareness to the cause.
It comes after Harry spoke about how he keeps his mother's memory alive for his two children. During a 2022 interview with Today's Hoda Kotb, he said: "I don't tell him [Archie] all the stuff that's happened, but certainly that this is Grandma Diana, and we've got a couple of photos up in the house."
Archie was seen looking at a photo of Diana in the Sussexes' Netflix docuseries (
Image:
Netflix)
Harry then explained how keenly he feels his mother's presence, saying: "It has been over the last two years more so than ever before. It is almost as though she's done her bit with my brother and now she's very much like helping me. She got him set up and now she's helping me set up. That's what it feels like. He's got his kids, I've got my kids.
"The circumstances are obviously different but I feel her presence in almost everything that I do now. But definitely more so in the last two years than ever before, without a question. She's watching over us.'
Prince William has also spoken about the importance of connecting his children to their late grandmother. In the 2017 documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, the future king said he is "constantly talking about Granny Diana" with George, Charlotte, and Louis.
"We've got more photos up 'round the house now of her, and we talk about her a bit and stuff," he added. "It's hard because obviously Catherine didn't know her, so she cannot really provide that — that level of detail," he said. "So, I do [when] regularly putting George or Charlotte to bed, talk about her and just try and remind them that there are two grandmothers, there were two grandmothers in their lives, and so it's important that they know who she was and that she existed."
