Prince Harry has revealed how he managed to reconnect with his mother, Princess Diana, years after her death, using her perfume to unlock memories and emotions he had buried for decades.
The Duke of Sussex, 42, featured on the American educational platform MasterClass in an episode titled Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss. During the candid discussion, he spoke about bereavement, maturing while dealing with the trauma of losing his mother, and battling depression in later years.
Therapist's advice to use Diana's scent
Harry explained that a therapist encouraged him to confront his grief over Diana's loss. He disclosed that he did not shed tears for nearly 20 years following her passing and thinks of her "pretty much every night and then most mornings."
The therapist advised him to locate Diana's fragrance to trigger memories after Harry admitted to forgetting her voice. The scent unleashed waves of emotions and recollections he had buried for decades.
He said: "It was like being transported to another time. It unlocked everything that had been locked away. Spraying my mother's scent was almost like knocking certain bricks through so that I could see through and certain memories and experiences could start seeping back."
Emotional numbness and healing
In the deeply intimate episode, Harry continued: "Everything I do, everything I put my energy towards, I hope that my mother will be proud of. Trying to continue and protect her legacy, what I didn't realise was that the work I was drawn to was so similar to the work she was doing."
Harry went on to contemplate Diana's passing: "I didn't cry when I was told my mum died, only at her burial, and then not again for nearly two decades. I was convinced that was strength, but it wasn't. It was a 12-year-old boy with no permission to fall apart and no roadmap for how to heal."
He added: "I'd spent so long emotionally numb because I felt disloyal and guilty at the possibility of being happy without her. I felt I had to stay sad and emotionally shut down to prove I missed her."
Therapy shifts his outlook
Harry revealed that therapy helped transform this mindset: "The reality is that what I discovered was that she just wanted me to be happy. That was a huge mental shift for me. It freed me and gave me a completely different outlook on life."
The interview arrives just weeks after Earl Spencer's memoir about Diana hit shelves, sparking friction between Harry's uncle and the King following allegations that Charles would 'forget' his late former wife.
