Prince Harry has opened up about the tragic death of his mother Princess Diana.
Harry was just 12 years old when Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997, and has now said he regrets “not talking about it.”
During the Heads Together charity BBQ held at Kensington Palace, Harry, 31, was talking to Rio Ferdinand about the footballer losing his wife to cancer last year when he spoke about the effect of not opening up about his mother’s death.
The prince admitted that it was only three years ago that he began to open up about how he felt about losing his mother.
“It is okay to suffer, but as long as you talk about it. It is not a weakness. Weakness is having a problem and not recognising it and not solving that problem.”
Footballer Rio, who lost wife Rebecca Ellison – mother to Lorenz, nine, Tate, six, and Tia, four – in May last year to breast cancer, discussed with Harry how grief might affect his children.
Harry said of their conversation: “It is very easy for someone to look at someone like Rio Ferdinand and say, ‘You get paid all the money in the world, you are a successful footballer, you have fast cars.’ But at the end of the day his wife was snatched from him at an early stage of his life with her. So of course he is going to suffer, it doesn’t matter if he has an amazing job.”
Rio said of Harry’s advice: “He’s gone through different stages in his life that my kids are going to be going towards.
“So to get some of his experiences is very rewarding for me and very educational in many ways.”
Originally appeared on Cosmopolitan.co.uk