Prince Harry Stuns Fans With His Answer To Whether He Misses William And Charles
As he sits down to talk about the 2022 Invictus Games, Prince Harry has been more than happy to talk about his secret meeting with Queen Elizabeth. He and his wife, Meghan Markle, stopped in London on their way to the Netherlands, where this year's games are being held. The meeting at Windsor Castle was reportedly "very cordial" and "incredibly warm and good natured," and Harry has given more details about the time he spent with his grandmother.
"We talk about things that she can't talk about with anybody else, so that is always a nice piece to her," he told Hoda Kotb on Today. He added that he's also "making sure that she's, you know, protected and got the right people around her."
Before his meeting with the queen, Harry and Meghan also had a quick visit with Prince Charles — at Elizabeth's insistence. While that meeting was described as tense, sources have said that Charles is hopeful he can eventually mend fences with his youngest son. "He loves [Harry] and he has been broken-hearted by everything that has taken place, although he fears history repeating itself with Harry just as it did with Princess Diana," an insider told Daily Mail. "But he also wants to keep the door open and keep talking, something he still regrets not doing with Diana."
But when asked about whether or not he misses his father — as well as brother Prince William — Harry was uncharacteristically tight-lipped.
Prince Harry says he is focused on his own family right now
Prince Harry dodged a question about whether he misses his father and brother, instead choosing to speak about the 2022 Invictus Games. "Look I mean, for me at the moment, I'm here focused on these guys and these families and giving everything that I can, 120 percent to them to make sure they have the experience of a lifetime," he told Hoda Kotb on Today. "That's my focus here. And when I leave here, I get back and my focus is on my family who I miss massively."
While Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, briefly met with Prince Charles during their recent stop in London, Prince William was on a skiing trip with Kate Middleton and their three children. And although Charles is hoping to one day reconcile with his youngest son, he is also reportedly concerned that Harry and Meghan might try to upstage Queen Elizabeth at her Platinum Jubilee festivities in June. However, Harry told Kotb he isn't sure his family will be making the trip.
"I don't know yet," he explained. "There's lots of things with security issues and everything else. So, this is what I'm trying to do, trying to make it possible that I can get my kids to meet her."
Prince Harry opened up about missing Princess Diana
Although Prince Harry declined to talk about his fractured relationship with Prince Charles and Prince William, he did speak about missing his late mother, Princess Diana. In fact, he shared that he has felt her presence more since he and wife Meghan Markle stepped down from their royal duties in 2020. "For me, it's constant. It has been over the last two years, more so than ever before," Harry told Hoda Kotb on TODAY. "It's almost as though she's done her bit with my brother and now she's very much helping me. Got him set up, now she's helping me set up."
Harry keeps Diana's memory alive by frequently talking to his son Archie about "Grandma Diana," as well as showing him photos of the people's princess. "I feel her presence in almost everything that I do now but definitely more so in the last two years than ever before, without a question. So she's watching over us," he said.
His brother has also shared that he talks to his three children about his mother while putting them to bed at night, and that he and wife Kate Middleton have placed more photos of Diana around their home. William explained that it is important that their kids "know who she was and that she existed."
Prince Harry gushed about being a father
While Prince Harry's relationship with his father and brother continues to be strained, the Duke of Sussex is content on being a husband and a father. He seems to be loving life with his family in California, explaining that he and Meghan Markle have found a "great community" in Santa Barbara and that the United States now feels like home.
And of course, being a father has brought him a happiness he has never known. When Hoda Kotb asked him what he loves most about being a parent to son Archie and daughter Lilibet, Harry enthusiastically responded, "I love every part of it. I've always wanted to be a dad. I've always wanted to have my own kids, and now I got two little people who I'm responsible for."
For Harry, being a good father means being fully committed to making the world a better place for both of his children. "Otherwise, what's the point in bringing kids into this world, right?" he said. "It's a responsibility that I feel as a parent and that you probably feel as a parent as well."