Prince Harry still 'haunted' over 'what happened to Princess Diana'
Prince Harry is reportedly still ‘haunted’ by the death of his mother, Princess Diana, with its impact affecting the new father’s approach to his royal role.
The insight was brought to light by PR expert Richard Fitzwilliams, who explained his view in the context of Harry’s insistence for privacy since meeting Meghan Markle.
Still affected
“If we look back, and looking back quite a while at the whole period when they were going out together, with the engagement, there was, of course, Harry’s attack on the media,” he told talkRADIO in the UK.
The ‘attack’ Richard refers to is the impassioned - and unprecedented - statement the prince released in 2016 in defence of his then-girlfriend.
In the release, Harry said the UK press’ treatment of Meghan was plagued with ‘outright sexism and racism’ before detailing how he was ‘worried about Meghan’s safety’.
“Some of [the alleged abuse] has been very public - the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments,” the statement read.
“It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms Markle should be subjected to such a storm.”
Since the birth of their son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, in May, this resistance against the media has only been amplified, often to the detriment of the couple’s public image.
Baby backlash
This was perhaps most evident in the public backlash surrounding the royal baby’s recent christening, which was done completely privately at the chapel at the inner-sanctum of Windsor Castle.
According to Richard, this defence is potentially an aftereffect of Diana’s tragic death in a 1997 Paris car crash, when Harry was just 12 years old.
“There is no doubt, of course, that again, what happened to his mother haunts him, and is behind a lot.
“The actually sentiments expressed do appear to be reflected in the way they are currently behaving.”
