A common bond. In his Spare memoir, Prince Harry detailed a trip with Meghan Markle to Princess’s Diana‘s grave that helped his wife amid their difficult time in the U.K.
In an excerpt from the upcoming book, Harry, 38, recalled visiting Althorp House in Northamptonshire where his mother is buried. During the visit, which took place on the 20th anniversary of her death, the Duke of Sussex left Meghan, 41, alone for a private moment.
“When I returned, she was on her knees with her eyes closed and her palms flat against the stone,” he wrote, noting that the Suits alum was asking the late Princess of Wales for “clarity and guidance.”
The couple’s visit came as Meghan tackled the public scrutiny from the U.K. press due to her relationship with Harry. The California native, who tied the knot with Harry in 2018, faced major obstacles during her time overseas.
Harry, for his part, previously compared the way Meghan was treated to his late mother’s experience with the British press. Diana died at age 36 after sustaining injuries in a car crash in Paris in August 1997. At the time of her passing, Prince William was 15 and Harry was 12.
While filming their joint Netflix docuseries, Harry gushed about the connection between his late mother and Meghan. “So much of what Meghan is, and how she is, is so similar to my mum,” he said in the first episode of Harry & Meghan, which aired in December 2022. “She has the same compassion, the same empathy, she has the same confidence, she has this warmth about her.”
At the time, the U.K. native also recalled seeing his mother struggle with the media attention following her split from King Charles III in 1992.
“I remember thinking, ‘How can I ever find someone who is willing and capable to be able to withstand all the baggage that comes with being with me?’” he added in the doc. “Every relationship that I had, within a matter of weeks or month, was splatted all over the newspapers and that person’s family was harassed and their lives turned upside-down.”
Harry noted that he didn’t fully remember moments with his mother following her tragic death. “My childhood I remember or was filled with laughter, filled with happiness and filled with adventure,” he said. “I don’t have many early memories of my mom. It was almost like I internally blocked them out. But I always remember her laugh, her cheeky laugh. Her always saying to me, ‘You can get in trouble, just don’t get caught.’ And I’ll always be that cheeky person inside.”
According to Harry, he was “terrified” by how his romance with Meghan would be affected by life in the royal family. The duo ultimately stepped down from their senior roles in 2020 and moved to California.
