Prince Harry opens up about his mother - the late Princess Diana

(Baonghean.vn) - Prince Harry admits that his childhood memories with his mother - the late Princess Diana - are fading, but she is the motivation for him to pursue charity work.

Prince Harry speaks at a charity event for the Sentebale project.

The fifth heir to the British throne revealed: The sudden passing of his mother, the late Princess Diana, in 1997 when he was 12 years old left him unable to remember much about the time they lived together.

“I don't have many childhood memories with my mother,” Prince Harry told People magazine.

Harry said he was inspired by the work of the late Princess Diana. “All I want to do is make my mother proud,” Harry added.

Harry explained that since his mother passed away, there has been a “hole” in his soul, not only for him but for many people around the world.

He has tried to fill some of that void with his mother's unfinished volunteer work.

Speaking at a charity dinner in Wellington, Florida on Wednesday (May 4) after a fundraising polo match, Harry opened up about his mother and her influence on his charity work. Harry said the charity project Sentebale, which he co-founded, helps children living with HIV in Lesotho (South Africa).

The name Sentebale means “forget me not” in the Sotho language of Lesotho, and is also the name of the forget-me-not flower that Princess Diana loved. “I first visited Lesotho 12 years ago. I travelled around the country and was amazed by the beauty. But I was also troubled to see so many children who had lost their parents to AIDS,” the British prince shared.

Prince Harry with Princess Diana and Prince William in 1988.

Having also lost his mother at a young age, Harry related to the orphans he was trying to help. “Although our circumstances were different, we shared the same pain of losing a loved one and that void that was always there and could never be filled.”

According to Reuters, Princess Diana died suddenly in a car accident in Paris three weeks before Harry's 13th birthday. At the time, the press reported that the boy was so depressed that he turned to marijuana and alcohol.

Harry's childhood was not as peaceful as other children. His parents' public divorce and the sudden death of his beloved mother had severely damaged his soul. Since the age of 15, he had intended to continue following in his mother's footsteps in charity work.

Thanh Huyen