Prince Harry’s Heartfelt 'Regret' Over Final Call with Princess Diana: “I Would Have Said...”
The final phone call between Prince Harry and Princess Diana continues to haunt him decades after her tragic death. That hurried conversation from Paris, just hours before the fatal car crash on August 31, 1997, remains a source of profound regret for the young prince, who was only 12 years old at the time. "I can't really necessarily remember what I said, but all I do remember is probably regretting for the rest of my life how short the phone call was," Harry revealed in his raw reflections.
When their mother called them from Paris, the brothers were enjoying themselves while playing with their cousins in Scotland's Balmoral Castle. In his memoir Spare, Harry painfully recounted the moment: "I wished I'd dug deep, told my mother all the things weighing on my heart, especially my regret over the last time we'd spoken on the phone. She'd called early in the evening, the night of the crash, but I was running around with Willy and my cousins and didn't want to stop playing. So I'd been short with her. Impatient to get back to my games, I'd rushed Mummy off the phone."
This Prince Harry interview on 60 minutes is powerful. You can still hear the grief in his voice from losing his mother. He was in denial that she *actually* died until his 20s. Says he thought maybe it was a plan and they’d reunite at some point. That’s deep pain.
— Natasha S. Alford (@NatashaSAlford) January 9, 2023
The weight of those unspoken words still lingers. "If I'd known that that was the last time I was going to speak to my mother, the things that I would have said to her..." Harry reflected. Prince William also shares this burden of regret. "Harry and I were in a desperate rush to say goodbye, you know, 'See you later'... if I'd known now obviously what was going to happen, I wouldn't have been so blasé about it and everything else," the elder prince admitted, as per People.
According to longtime friend and royal correspondent Richard Kay, Princess Diana was in a wonderful mood that evening, and he received her last call. "She was in quite a good place," Kay remembered, noting poignantly that "she wanted to come back and see her boys."
Throughout it all, though, the brothers' memories of their mother remained vivid and tender. They recall her infectious laugh, her mischievous spirit, and her unconventional approach to parenting. "She was one of the naughtiest parents," Harry fondly remembered, sharing how she would "smuggle sweets into our socks" during football matches.
Prince Harry said: “She knew that AIDS was one of the things that many wanted to ignore and seemed like a hopeless challenge.” pic.twitter.com/1ZbKZqVpjk
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) October 12, 2017
The profound impact of Diana's sudden loss shaped both princes' lives immensely. Harry talked candidly about how difficult grieving has been for him. He revealed that since her passing, he has only shed tears twice: once during the funeral and again shortly after. "There's a lot of grief that still needs to be let out," he confessed.
At the same time, her sons' charitable endeavors continue to carry on her legacy today. Harry maintains his work with Sentebale and continues to advocate for HIV/AIDS. The brothers ensure that Diana's memory endures for the following generation. William tells his children stories about "Granny Diana" on a regular basis, as per The Guardian.
