Prince Harry Speaks out About His Father’s Behavior Following Diana’s Death

Prince Harry is opening up about the anguish his father, Prince Charles, felt following Princess Diana’s tragic death.

During a new BBC Documentary titled Diana, 7 Days, Harry addressed how difficult it was to break the news to him and his older brother, William.

“One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died,” Harry said. “How you deal with that, I don’t know.”

Princess Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997 when Harry was just 12-years-old. At the time of the accident, Harry and William were on summer vacation with their father at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

“[Our dad] was there for us — he was the one out of two left, and he tried to do his best and to make sure that we were protected and looked after,” Harry said. “But he was going through the same grieving process as well.”

As for his reaction to hearing the news of his mother’s death, Harry said it was “disbelief” and that he “refused to accept it.”

“There was no sudden outpour of grief. I don’t think anybody in that position at that age would be able to understand the concept of what that actually means, going forward,” he continued.

William also opened up about his reaction to learning of his mother’s passing.

“I remember feeling completely numb, disorientated, dizzy — and you feel very very confused. And you keep asking yourself, ‘Why me?’ the whole time. Why? What have I done, why has this happened to us?” William said.

As for Queen Elizabeth, she went to great lengths to look out for William and Harry.

“At the time, my grandmother wanted to protect her two grandsons and my father as well. Our grandmother deliberately removed the newspapers and things like that so there was nothing in the house to read,” William said.

He continued by saying: “We didn’t know what was going on. Back then there were no smart phones and things like that, so you couldn’t get your news. Thankfully, we had the privacy to mourn and to try to collect our thoughts and have that space away from everybody. We had no idea the reaction to her death would be quite so huge.”

The royal family decided to stay at Balmoral in order to go through the grieving process away from the pressures of London.

“All of us were in new territory. My grandmother and my father believed we were better served in Balmoral, having the walks and space and the peace to be with the family and not be immersed or having to deal with serious decisions or worries straightaway,” William said.

Diana, 7 Days airs in the U.S. on September 1 on NBC.

Photo Credit: Getty / Serge Lemoine / Stringer