In a recent interview with Anderson Cooper, Prince Harry revealed that he spent years believing his mother might still be alive following her death in 1997.
The now 38-year-old was 12 years old when he lost his mother. He explained, "For a long time, I just refused to accept that she was gone."
Harry admitted that he believed into his early adulthood that "she would call us and that we would go and join her."
He added, "I say 100 percent it’s a defense mechanism, right? I think for anyone, especially if you’re a kid — you know, I was 12 years old."
Harry also admitted that once he accepted his mother's death in his early 20s, he asked to see the photos from the crash site. He explained, "All I saw was the back of my mom’s head, slumped in the back seat. There were other more gruesome photographs. I will be eternally grateful to him [his secretary] for denying me the ability to inflict pain on myself by seeing that. That’s the kind of stuff that sticks in your mind forever."
