Prince Harry Shares His Grief Over Last Phone Call With Mom Princess Diana

Sep 01, 2020 by apost team

Back in July 2017, Princes Harry and William shared intimate memories of their mother Princess Diana and talked about their early life in an HBO documentary. The TV special aired in honor of the Princess' death after a car crash in Paris.

Aside from remembering their childhood and precious moments with their mother, the Princes also shared their sorrow and regret over their mother's death. Prince Harry especially recalled his last phone call with his mother, which took place on the day she died.

The HBO documentary aired on July 24, back in 2017, under the title "Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy". It was meant to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Peoples' Princess' death on August 31, 1997. Commissioned by Prince Harry and Prince William themselves as part one of a two-part documentary series, it included previously unreleased footage, photos and home videos. Aside from interviewing the two princes, the documentary also featured close friends and family of the late Princess, including Sir Elton John. It focused on the impact the late Princess had made not only on her sons and family but also from her charitable work for good causes.

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The princes were 15 and 12 years old at the time of their mother's death. Losing a parent at such a young age is already terrible enough, however, as the documentary explains, they were also on vacation with their cousins at Balmoral Castle, the traditional holiday retreat of the Queen and many members of the royal family, at the time. As might be expected, two boys at that age were more interested in joining their cousins in on some holiday fun instead of lengthy phone calls with their mother. Neither expected anything to happen to Princess Diana.

“If I’d known that that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother the things that I would – the things I would have said to her,” Prince Harry explains in the documentary, adding "I can't really necessarily remember what I said but all I do remember is probably regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was."

Prince William said:

"Harry and I were in a desperate rush to say goodbye, you know 'see you later'... if I'd known now obviously what was going to happen, I wouldn't have been so blasé about it and everything else."

Both Princes describe Princess Diana as an extremely fun-loving, adventurous woman in the documentary. While they talk about their memories and reminiscence over a photo album, both are reminded of the good times they shared with their mother. According to William and Harry, their mother was a joker with a wonderful sense of humor. Prince Harry describes her with the words:

"When everybody says to me 'so she was fun, give us an example' all I can hear is her laugh in my head. One of her mottos to me was, you know, 'you can be as naughty as you want, just don't get caught'. She was one of the naughtiest parents. She would come and watch us play football and, you know, smuggle sweets into our socks."

And Prince William shared that she would also play little pranks on their sons by using rude or funny greeting cards:

"I would be at school and I'd get a card from my mother. Usually she found something, you know, very embarrassing, you know, a very funny card, and then sort of wrote very nice stuff inside. But I dared not open it in case the teachers or anyone else in the class had seen it."

The documentary is truly a wonderful tribute to the late Princess and her character and work. However, making it also took a lot out of her sons. In a BBC interview back in 2017, both Princes made it clear that they would never again talk at length so candidly about their childhood, their mother and what losing her felt like. Talking about this harrowing experience understandably brings up a lot of good as well as bad feelings. As Prince William put it:

"We won't be doing this again - we won't speak as openly or publicly about her again, because we feel hopefully this film will provide the other side from close family friends you might not have heard before, from those who knew her best and from those who want to protect her memory, and want to remind people of the person that she was."

Have you watched the documentary back in 2017 or sometime since? Can you understand the Princes' decision not to talk about their mother's death in public anymore? Pass this story along to your friends and family to find out what they think and share your thoughts with us.