Prince William, the man who would be king, has opened up about the horrible anguish he suffered after losing his beloved mother, Princess Diana, at such a young age when a fateful car crash in ended her life at age 36; William was only 15.
According to Fox News, Williams described his loss as being a “pain like no other pain” during an interview on the BBC special, “A Royal Team Talk: Tackling Mental Health,” which explores how men can open up about their emotions. Prince William elected to share about one of the greatest emotional anguishing experiences: the untimely death of one’s mother.
“I think when you are bereaved at a very young age, anytime really, but particularly at a young age – I can resonate closely to that – you feel a pain like no other pain,” William said in the clip. “And you know that in your life it’s going to be very difficult to come across something that is going to be an even worse pain than that.”
Despite that, Prince William said he found strength in sharing his experience with others, saying that it creates a bond with those who are also bereaving.
“It also brings you so close to all those other people out there who have been bereaved,” Prince William continued. “So instantly, when you talk to someone else… You can almost see it in their eyes sometimes.”
In the same interview, Prince William also called on more British people to talk about their emotions rather than maintaining their iconic cold stoicism. “There has to be a moment for that… [to] be able to talk about our emotions, because we’re not robots,” he said.
William’s younger brother, Harry, lost his mother at just age 12. He recently shared the anguish he has often felt over the tragedy with former soldier Dennis van der Stroom during a visit to The Hague, where they both reportedly bonded over their grief.
“I told Harry about my mother and we talked about our shared experience of missing a mom,” van der Stroom told Hello!. “He said missing a mother is like missing some kind of security, how you need that as a son and it falls away when you lose your mother. He said he meets a lot of people in his work who have lost a mother, father, sister, brother or relatives and when he hears their story, as he heard my story, he said he doesn’t feel so alone.”
Van der Stroom went on to say that Harry confessed how the birth of his child set his mental health straight. “He told me how special it was that his son has just been born,” he claimed. “Harry talked about how having a small child was his new focus and new goal and I told him how a couple of months ago, I was struggling with my mental health but my wife’s pregnancy has given me a goal.”
“Above all, he said he was just amazed by the miracles in the world, and how his child has made a lot of people happy,” he continued. “He also told me he’s really happy that his son is so far very quiet. But he also told me not to make too many plans and that there’s no way you can plan for when the baby arrives.”
