Prince Harry says he wanted to leave royal life as a teen after it ‘killed my mum’

Prince Harry has revealed that he decided as a teenager that he didn’t want the royal life that he says ‘killed’ his mother, Princess Diana.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are currently in Australia on a four-day private tour, concentrating on ‘mental health, community resilience, and support for veterans and their families.’

An official statement said the tour will also incorporate ‘private meetings and special projects,’ including Meghan’s controversial £1,400 girls weekend, dubbed ‘Meg-stock.’

So far, Harry and Meghan have enjoyed a tour around Melbourne, Australia’s unofficial cultural capital, and visited the Australian War Memorial with indigenous veterans.

Harry’s bombshell statement came during his keynote speech at the $1,000-a-head InterEdge Summit in Melbourne Park.

Telling the audience that he felt ‘lost, betrayed, or completely powerless’ in his youth, Harry claimed that he had his ‘head in the sand for years and years’ until he stepped down from royal duties — alongside Meghan — in 2020.

Harry suggested that his decision to leave the royal family was also something his mother would have wanted for him.

‘After my mum died just before my 13th birthday I was like “I don’t want this job. I don’t want this role. Wherever this is headed, I don’t like it”.

‘It killed my mum, and I was very much against it, and I stuck my head in the sand for years and years.

‘Eventually, I realised well, hang on, if there was somebody else in this position, how would they be making the most of this platform and this ability and the resources that come with it to make a difference in the world?

‘And also, what would my mum want me to do? And that really changed my own perspective.’

Princess Diana, who was also mother to Prince William, died in 1997, aged just 36.

She passed away following a car crash in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris, France, which took place shortly after midnight while photographers were pursuing her car.

Diana had a complex, love-hate relationship with the press throughout her life. While she frequently expressed frustration with the paparazzi and the constant scrutiny under the spotlight, she was also able to leverage it to gain public support and highlight humanitarian causes.

Harry and Meghan shocked the world back in 2020 when they announced they would no longer be senior members of the royal family.

Revealing their plans to move across the Atlantic to California, the couple cited a ‘really difficult environment’ as their catalyst for leaving the ‘firm.’

This included a reported lack of institutional support and alleged racism within the royal family.

On January 18 that year, the Duke and Duchess released a joint statement explaining their decision. It read: ‘We intend to step back as “senior” members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent, while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.’

They said they planned to balance their time between the UK and North America while ‘continuing to honour our duty to the Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.’

It added: ‘This geographic balance will enable us to raise our son with an appreciation for the royal tradition into which he was born, while also providing our family with the space to focus on the next chapter, including the launch of our new charitable entity.’

Following the announcement, the late Queen Elizabeth responded with her own statement.

In her message, the former monarch said that ‘following many months of conversations and more recent discussions, I am pleased that together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family.’

She also said that ‘Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved members of my family.’

At the time, the couple only had one child, Prince Archie, six. Harry and Meghan later went on to welcome Prince Lilibet, four, in the US, who was affectionately named after Queen Elizabeth.