Biggest moments from Prince Harry's tell-all MasterClass on grief as he shares triggers

Connor McCrorySat, October 10, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC

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Harry spoke about how he handled his emotions in the wake of Diana's death (Image: Getty)Prince Harry shares what brought him back to his mother, as one small trigger cracked him open when he thought he was fine.

Prince Harry is revisiting the loss of his mother Princess Diana in a new MasterClass exploring how grief shaped his childhood, royal duties and life as a husband and father.

The Duke of Sussex speaks with grief researcher Mary-Frances O'Connor in Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss, released October 8.

Their conversation covers emotional numbness, panic attacks, therapy, and his efforts to reconnect with memories of his mother.

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"I didn't cry when I was told my mom died, only at her burial, and then not again for nearly two decades," he says.

Harry also recalls forgetting Diana's voice and laugh, finding comfort through her perfume and experiencing depression after moving to Canada with Meghan Markle and Archie.

Alongside those difficult memories, he discusses the happiness he finds with his family and his rule against spending more than 10 days away from them.

Harry says happiness once felt disloyal to Diana, leaving him convinced that remaining sad would prove how deeply he missed her. That belief kept him emotionally numb for years before he began reconsidering what his mother would have wanted. "But the reality is, what I discovered was actually she just wanted me to be happy," Harry says. He describes that realization as freeing and transformative. (Image: Getty)

Harry says shutting down his emotions after Diana's death affected more than painful memories. He also struggled to remember her voice and laugh, and needed photographs to picture her face. "The defense mechanism for the mind and the body was shut down the emotions and shut down the memories," he says. The experience left him disconnected from otherwise familiar and comforting reminders of his mother. (Image: Getty)

Harry says a therapist suggested finding Diana's perfume to help him reconnect with memories he had suppressed. The familiar fragrance brought an immediate response, allowing experiences from his childhood to surface again. "And it was like being transported to another time," Harry says. "And it unlocked everything that had been locked previously." He compares the experience to breaking through a long-standing, deeply personal emotional wall. (Image: Getty)

Harry recalls an unexpected emotional crash after moving to Canada with Meghan Markle and their son Archie in late 2019. Away from his stressful surroundings, he says he struggled when the adrenaline that had sustained him subsided. "I actually slipped into depression for about two weeks and I felt like I couldn't function without adrenaline." He says even ordinary tasks around the house became difficult. (Image: Getty)

Harry says anxiety could begin before he arrived at a royal engagement, with getting dressed and traveling becoming sources of distress. Shirt collars left him feeling suffocated, while cameras and worries about sweating intensified his discomfort. "There was a time where public engagements just created absolute panic right from beginning to end," he says. Those reactions prompted him to investigate more closely what was happening. (Image: Getty)

Harry says spending time with Meghan Markle and their children provides happiness, while his work gives him purpose. He follows a specific limit to help balance those responsibilities. "And the key to finding the joy and happiness balance is no more than 10 days away from my wife and kids," Harry says. He describes the approach as bringing his different personal and professional identities together. (Image: Getty)

Harry says Diana remains part of his daily personal life through memories, a cherished photograph and the causes he supports. He thinks about her most mornings and nearly every night, sometimes wondering what she would make of his decisions. "Everything I do, everything I put my energy towards, I hope that my mother will be proud about it," he says. Her legacy influences his work. (Image: Getty)

Harry says therapy helped him confront emotions he had suppressed for years and acknowledge the lasting effects of losing Diana. Building trust with a therapist gave him the confidence to speak openly about his experience. "One of the greatest things that I got from therapy was permission to grieve," he says. Accepting that grief helped him begin a process of gradual personal recovery and healing. (Image: Getty)

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”