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The Real Story: Prince Harry: Dealing with grief in the public eye

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Prince Harry: Dealing with grief in the public eye

13/01/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - The Real Story, Prince Harry: Dealing with grief in the public eye

What does his experience of grief reveal about family, society, the media and privilege?

Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, reveals the long shadow the sudden death of his mother, Princess Diana, cast when he was only 12. So how hard is it to grieve in the public eye?

Prince Harry's bombshell memoir, Spare, leaves few royal stones unturned. From a physical confrontation with his brother Prince William to his own drug taking, one of the threads that runs through all of these startling revelations is the long shadow that the sudden death of his mother, Princess Diana, cast when he was only 12.

Prince Harry claims he never properly dealt with - or was helped to deal with -  his profound grief. In his memoir he claims he only cried once after his mother’s death and was never hugged by his father on the day he found out. 

The Royals have, so far, not commented on any of the book’s revelations but how hard is it to deal with bereavement and grief in the public eye? What do Prince Harry’s recollections tell us about his experience of dealing with grief in this unique family or the modern world more generally? Does privilege help or hinder the process? What role has the media played? And, ultimately, is there ever a right way to deal with grief?

Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of experts:

Catherine Mayer is a writer, activist and the co-founder of the Women's Equality Party. She is also the author of Good Grief: Embracing life at a time of death published in 2020 and Charles: The Heart of a King published in 2015 but both with newly update material.

Dr Elaine Kasket is a psychologist, an expert on death, and author of All the Ghosts in the Machine: The Digital Afterlife of your Personal Data published in 2019

Angela Levin is a journalist,  royal commentator and biographer.  Her books including Harry: Conversations with the Prince published in 2018 and Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort released last year.

Credits: Spare by Prince Harry / Audible
Bryony Gordon’s Mad World, a podcast by Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021

Photo: Britain's Prince Harry follows the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during her funeral procession in 2022. 
Credit: Stephane de Sakutin/Pool via REUTERS

Producers: Alba Morgade and Pandita Lorenz

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