Princess Diana Influenced This Big Prince Harry Decision, Claims Royal Author

When Prince Harry was just 12 years-old he tragically lost his mother, Princess Diana. The beloved Princess had split up from his father, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, in 1992, subsequently losing her HRH (Her Royal Highness) title in 1996 when she finally filed for divorced. The next year, in 1997, she died in a car crash in Paris while being chased by paparazzi, along with Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, the driver. While the driver was found to be responsible for the crash, as he was under the influence while driving, many believe that the photographers contributed, as they were erratically following the car. While Prince Harry has lived most of his life without his mother physically by his side, she continues to influence many of his major life decisions.

According to Lee Sansum, a bodyguard who protected Princess Diana and recently published an ebook titled The Bodyguard, told The Sun that Harry's choice to leave England for America was clearly inspired by his late mother. He says that she viewed the country as a "place of sanctuary," which is likely the reason Harry was so open to the idea of settling in California in 2020 with his wife, Meghan Markle. 

Lee maintains that Harry was at a formative age when he lost his mother, which explains why so many of his decisions are swayed by her. "This trauma happened when the building blocks for life were being formulated. His mother saw America as a place of sanctuary. He will be drawing on his experiences from then," Lee explained. 

He also maintains that Diana was planning her own move to America. "I actually signed up to join Diana and Dodi in America. She was definitely going, and that was that. She told me she was going there. She didn't want to, but that was the only place she felt people weren't having a go at her. It was probably her way of keeping sane, to get some respite," he said. 

In an interview with Hoda Kotbfor NBC News' Today show from the Invictus Games Prince Harry revealed that he feels his mom's presence. "For me, it's constant and it has been over the last two years," he said. "More so than ever before. It's almost as if she's done her bit with my brother and now she's very much helping me. She's got him set up now she's helping me set up. That's what it feels like."

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During Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey's mental-health docuseries, The Me You Can't See, he also expressed concern that "history was repeating itself" in terms of the way Meghan was being treated by the press. "We get followed. Photographed, chased, harassed. The clicking of cameras and the flashes of the cameras makes my blood boil. It makes me angry and takes me back to what happened to my mom and what I experienced as a kid," Harry explains. "Not just traditional media, but also social media platforms as well. I felt completely helpless," he said. He later said: "My biggest regret is not making more of a stance earlier on in my relationship with my wife and calling out the racism when I did. History was repeating itself. My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone that wasn't white and now look what's happened. You want to talk about history repeating itself, they're not going to stop until [Meghan] dies," he says.