Harry's Interviews

Diana Concert Interview Announcement
Harry's 21st Birthday Interview
Harry's 18th Birthday Interview

Transcript of broadcast footage for Prince William and Prince Harry’s announcement of commemorations for Diana, Princess of Wales.

Question
Next year is the tenth anniversary of the loss of your mother. How are you planning to mark this?

Prince William
Next year we hope to commemorate and celebrate our mother’s life, as it’s been ten years since she died, with a memorial service on August 31st in London. And then a concert, a tribute concert, celebrating her life on July 1st on her birthday.

Question
Harry, who will be attending the church service?

Prince Harry
The service is going to include both sides of the family, our mother’s side and our father’s side - everyone getting together. It should be a good occasion and lots of loud hymns, I Vow To Thee My Country, all the good ones. And, no, it should be a very sort of simple and nice service.

Question
And I think you’re both very closely involved in the organisation of these events, both the church service and the concert. Tell us a bit about that…

Prince William
Well we both wanted to put our stamp on it. We want it to represent exactly what our mother would have wanted; how she was and all that sort of thing. So therefore the church service alone isn’t enough. We wanted to have this big concert with, you know, full of energy, full of the sort of fun and happiness which I know she would have wanted. And on her birthday as well, it’s got to be the best birthday present she ever had. And with it we can, by, the two of us organising it…we wanted to have the fact that the evening is all about our mother. The main purpose is to celebrate and to have fun and to remember her in a fun way.

Question
It sounds like an amazing concert. Have you got some exciting artists already lined up?

Prince William
Yeah, we’ve got some brilliant people coming and we really want to thank everyone who’s taken part and who’s given up their time to come. And loads of people coming from, from far away and across the ocean and things like that. So really, really kind. But to name a few, because we don’t want to name everyone because we want to keep a surprise…we’ve got Sir Elton John; we’ve got the English National Ballet; Andrew Lloyd Webber is doing an exclusive sort of greatest hits bit; and then we’ve got Pharrell Williams…

Prince Harry
And Joss Stone. There’s plenty, plenty more, don’t worry!

Prince William
That’s a little flavour.

Prince Harry
A little flavour.

Prince William
But the idea is we wanted to get artists that our mother really loved, and then artists that both Harry and I enjoy, and in the middle with the ballet and Andrew Lloyd Webber - obviously she loved her dancing and her musicals. So with that you’ve got a sort of something different, it’s not just any old concert. It’s going to be different and it’s going to be interesting. If it works it will be brilliant, if it doesn’t then we won’t be in the country!

Prince Harry
You won’t see us for a very long time.

Question
And will we see you dancing?

Prince William
I really hope not!

Prince Harry
I hope so! Him, not me. I hope that we can get the chance to see him dance.

Prince William
It’ll be a terrifying sight if we do. But, yeah well, you know –

Prince Harry
We’ll be kicking around, we’ll be there… we should be on stage at some point. Probably at the beginning of the night - not towards the end.

Question
That sounds like an amazing line up and of course it will be one of the first concerts to be held at the new Wembley Stadium, that’s quite an exciting prospect.

Prince William
It is absolutely brilliant. We’re really lucky that we’ve got the Wembley Stadium and the Arena. And along with a whole load of partners who are helping along, in the whole event, it should run really smoothly and they’ve given up so much of their time to help. And of course having Wembley itself is brilliant. And not that the President of the FA had anything to do with it, but it’s, it’s brilliant, it really is and it’s the best place to have it next year definitely.

Question
So have you decided upon a name for the concert yet?

Prince William
Yes, we’ve decided that it’s going to be called Concert for Diana, because obviously the evening is going to be purely about her. And, as we both want to make sure, first and foremost the evening is for her. It’s to remember her and to commemorate her life and celebrate it.

Question
I think you’re also hoping to raise some money for some charities as well?

Prince William
Yes, we are. We’re raising money for Centrepoint and Sentebale. I’m Patron of Centrepoint and Harry’s Patron of Sentebale. They’re both charities that continue on from our mother’s legacy. And also for the Diana Memorial Fund and her five main charities that she was patron of, or had a great deal of interest in, just before she died.

Question
And I think you went to Centrepoint with your mother, is that right?

Prince William
I did, yes, when I was very small, yes. She dragged me out and I didn’t know what was going on or where I was or anything, but it’s a visit that stayed with me for ever. And, yes, that’s true. And I’m very glad that she did. And it’s a wonderful charity and I really hope we can do an awful lot for them.

Question
And Harry, you setting up Sentebale in Lesotho, that was a way, I think you said, of continuing your mother’s legacy and her work with those suffering with Aids and HIV.

Prince Harry
Very, very much so. As I mentioned two years ago or so, Lesotho was a country that we just, we chose because of the fact that it wasn’t even on the map. I’d never heard of it, and the problems it has with Aids. So, obviously, it’s associated with all the countries that she’s been to as well, when she was around. So it’s just a chance to sort of carry on what she left behind really.

Question
Okay, so if people want to get tickets to the concert or find out more how do they go about that?

Prince William
We’ve got to be very good and ask Santa very nicely.

Prince Harry
Or ring his mobile.

Prince William
Or ring my mobile. Shut up. And there’s going to be a website set up which is “concertfordiana.com” and you can go there and find out all you need to know about the concert.

Harry's 21st bday interview

By Laura Elston, PA Deputy Court Correspondent Prince Harry turned 21 today, insisting "I am who I am" and "I'm not going to change".

In interviews to mark his milestone birthday, the third in line to the throne defended himself for being both a "party prince" and a "caring" one, but said that was how he was going to stay.

Wearing a crumpled blue and white checked shirt, green khaki trousers and six metal bangles on his right hand and a leather band on his left, the Prince opened up about his life as a royal, dealings with the press and hopes for the future.

He admitted he had grown up over the past few years, but said he still had a "child streak" that he wanted to keep.

The Prince maintained he was not going to be "some person in the Royal Family who just finds a lame excuse to go abroad". He added: "I don't want to change that much. I am who I am. I'm not going to change because I'm being criticised in the press.

"Yeah, I've grown up, everyone's got to grow up. But there's something inside me that's always going to be, I'm always going to have that little sort of - how do you say? - child streak.

"It's something that I'd like to keep. I've got friends of mine saying before I went to Sandhurst, 'Don't change, Don't change, Don't change'.

"Well, I'm not going to." Asked if he was a party prince or the caring prince, he replied: "I am both of them. "If that's a problem with anyone, then I'm very sorry.

"What, does everyone expect me to be just the caring person and not to have a cigarette, not to have a beer? Asked if he was misunderstood, Harry replied "Yes." Harry denied that Camilla was a "wicked stepmother", declaring that he and William "loved her to bits" and that it was good to have her around. "To be honest with you, she's always been very close to me and William... But no, she's not the wicked stepmother. I'll say that right now," he said.

"Everyone has to understand that it's very hard for her. Look at the position she's coming into. Don't always feel sorry for me and William, feel sorry for her."

He added later: "She's a wonderful woman and she's made our father very, very happy which is the most important thing. William and I love her to bits."

Harry also apologised for dressing up in a Nazi uniform for a party earlier this year.

"Looking back on it now and at the time as well, it was a very stupid thing to do and I've learnt my lesson, simple as that really," he said.

"I'm very sorry if I offended anybody. I'd like to put it in the past now. What's done is done. I regret it."

He reiterated his hopes of making his mother proud and spoke of his closeness to brother William and the difficulty of seeing stories about Diana, Princess of Wales in the papers.

"I mean, ever since our mother died, obviously we were close, but he is the one person on this earth who I can actually really, you know, we can talk about anything,"

The Prince remains passionate about helping Aids orphans in Lesotho, the Southern African country he travelled to last year and addressed the challenge of balancing this with life in the Army.

"It's a difficult one, what I should be doing and what I want to be doing. It's hard."

The Prince insisted he would do the best he could within the Royal Family.

"Where I can see myself is doing as much as I can in the position that I've got.

"I'm not going to be some person in the Royal Family who just finds a lame excuse to go abroad and do all sorts of sunny holidays and whatever. "I mean, I'll do the best I can. Yes, Lesotho will probably play a very major part in that."

For his official birthday picture, Harry called once again on his mother's favourite photographer, Mario Testino, who captured him at Home Farm in his Sandhurst uniform. A second image shows the Prince with brother William. Harry specifically asked Testino to take one of them together.

The television footage was shot by Sky cameraman Mike Inglis, who previously worked for ITN and filmed Harry in Lesotho for the documentary about the Prince's stay in the southern African country. Harry appeared relaxed and happy, laughing as a crowing cockerel repeatedly interrupted the radio recording, as he sat in the sunshine on a stone wall.

"Is my shirt too crumpled?" he asked, concerned, trying to smooth out the wrinkles with his hand. "I was told to go casual."

The Prince, who hates being called Sir, stressed the importance of being seen as normal, especially after the attention he and William faced as they were growing up following their mother's death.

He also spoke of the need to have real friends, and said it was hard for both him and William to find people they could trust.

Quelling his party prince image, this year Harry is celebrating his birthday in a muddy ditch - in marked contrast with William's Out of Africa 21st birthday extravaganza at Windsor Castle.

Training at Sandhurst has taken precedence. "I'm not having a party. I'll probably be in a ditch in the middle of Wales.

I might let off a party popper," Harry said. "I didn't feel like one just because I've got other things to think about, more important things to concentrate on."

Prince Harry's desire to help Aids orphans in Lesotho is intertwined with his resolve to carry on the work his mother Diana, Princess of Wales was unable to finish. "I believe I can fulfil that," Harry said, adding: "I would not have said it otherwise."

The Prince said he had been told he had his mother's way with children, but admitted: "I'm a little bit over-sensitive sometimes."

He described how his mother's death, when he was just 12, dominated the news agenda as he spoke about the criticism levelled at his father.

"There's a lot of stuff that obviously irritates me and my brother and my father most as well, as he is someone who tries to do his best the whole time, but always is being continually criticised for all sorts," Harry said.

"You can't really deal with it. There is no way of dealing with it. You just hope that the next day that it isn't in the papers, whereas when my mother died it was in the papers for whatever it was - 16 weeks solid."

Harry added: "It's still in the papers now but you know news ... even the really bad news ... it's on one day and then it's gone the next. "It's guaranteed to be brought up again, but no, you just hope that it just blows over."

Of his desire to return to poverty-stricken Lesotho where he worked in an orphanage during his gap year, Harry said: "I can't wait for the day when I can forget about everything else and just concentrate on that. Well, not forget about everything else, but have that as the main priority which it was before I went to Sandhurst." During his time in southern Africa, the Prince made friends with four-year-old Mutsu Potsane, who lost his parents to Aids, and met 10-month-old baby girl Liketso, who was raped by her mother's boyfriend in the belief this would cure him of Aids.

"Mutsu's starting school in January and Liketso is out of the orphanage staying with her grandmother. They're both fine," Harry said. He added of his work in Lesotho: "It's not just a case of me appearing there to make them feel better or me turning up there and the press will follow. "If the press could leave me alone so I could go and do my own thing, then even better.

"It's a project that a couple of us are working on to see if the simplest means work ... I really think we could make a huge difference." Speaking of the children, he said: "Just your presence there, they feel human, whereas some of the times they just think 'my life is a waste of time'."

For now Prince Harry is continuing his training at Sandhurst. He said he wants to fight on the front line for his country - and he's determined to do so.

He's lost weight, been treated like a piece of dirt and been shouted at by Sergeant Majors while training at Sandhurst - but he admitted it has done him good.

"Nobody's really supposed to love it, it's Sandhurst," The Prince declared.

"Once getting there, the first five weeks, the infamous first five weeks, it's a bit of a struggle but I got through it. Obviously, you've got a platoon of 30 guys so everyone's going through the same thing and the best thing about that is being able to fit in as just a normal person."

Older brother Prince William has spoken previously about his intention to fight with the rest of the troops when he joins the military.

Like William, Harry revealed: "The last thing I said was there's no way I'm going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country. That may sound very patriotic, but it's true. It's not the way anyone should really work."

He said there might be considerations such as terrorism where he might have to step back, but he would do his best to be a normal soldier. His blistered feet have recovered and his knees - problems with which caused him to delay his entry into Sandhurst by four months - are all right.

"You get treated like a piece of dirt to be honest," he said of his induction into the armed forces.

"I've lost weight. I didn't think I could but I have."

He added: "I know that I've been treated equally. If not in a couple of cases maybe slightly differently in the sense that 'he is who he is, let's treat him even worse to make him feel really where he's at' ... It did me good."

He said the other cadets had been supportive when stories about him at Sandhurst appeared in the press, telling him:

"That didn't happen. We were there."

Harry was decked out in green overalls for the first few weeks and described himself as looking "half like an inmate and half like a gardener".

"Once you got rid of that and into the uniform, you start feeling like a proper soldier," he said.

He added: "I think I went in a little bit better prepared than I thought I would. I was shocked at first but I'd prepared myself for the worst."

Harry disclosed that he is hoping to join an infantry regiment when he completes his officer training at the military academy in Camberley, Surrey.

"I went to Sandhurst thinking I knew which regiment I wanted to go to but now I've been there I've slightly got hooked on the infantry bug because Sandhurst is based on infantry training."

Harry said: "I do enjoy running down a ditch full of mud, firing bullets, it's the way I am. I love it.”

He did not want to be the stereotypical Army officer. "I've seen the way the Army changes people, mostly for the good and also for the bad, as well, you know the typical Army officer. I want to be an Army officer and do the job, but at the same time I don't want to change that much."

He said that if he had an office desk job he would fall asleep or not be able to turn on the computer.

Harry's 18th bday interview

Prince Harry was 18 on Sunday, September 15, 2002. To mark the milestone, the Prince gave a special interview to Sam Greenhill of the Press Association. Prince Harry today spells out his mission in life: to keep alive the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, and carry forward the good work his late mother "didn't quite finish".

On the day he turns 18, the third in line to the throne speaks openly for the first time about his immense pride for his mother and how he is inspired to carve a future role for himself battling, as she did, to help little-known causes.

Harry outlined his plans after visiting sick children at Great Ormond Street, the London hospital that held a special place in Diana's heart. She was its president until she died and raised millions for new wards, including where Prince Harry spent time meeting youngsters with leukemia.

As he chatted to the children, there was a flash of the attribute for which his mother became legendary: bringing a smile to the suffering.

Eleven-year-old Samantha Ledster, in the midst of her course of treatment, beamed as Prince Harry sat on her bed and spent about 10 minutes asking her questions and looking at her get-well-soon cards.

As well as Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Prince visited three charities working with children during the day of engagements, last Thursday, as he undertook his first solo royal duties.

Arranged to mark his coming of age, Prince Harry said he had wanted to do something in honour of his mother - who had "more guts than anybody". Her death on August 31, 1997, came just days before his 13th birthday.

Prince Harry has also posed for a series of birthday portraits with Diana's favourite photographer, Mario Testino, who last year impressed the Prince of Wales with a picture of him at Highgrove.

The resulting images show the Prince looking relaxed and confident.

Prince Harry - the party prince - will be celebrating his birthday quietly at home today and insists he will not be having a knees-up.

But he will certainly be reflecting on the charity visits.

"It wasn't just a one-off thing. I've wanted to do something like this for a long time," he said.

He was 15 or 16 when the idea of following in his mother's footsteps began to germinate in his mind.

"I always wanted to do it, but especially after my mother died. "The fifth anniversary of her death was important because she wasn't remembered in a way I would have liked." Prince Harry is known to have been deeply upset when the anniversary was dominated by a book written by former royal bodyguard Ken Wharfe detailing Diana's private life and romantic affairs. The Prince said he wanted to highlight the things about her of which he was most proud: "The way she got close to people and went for the sort of charities and organisations that everybody else was scared to go near, such as landmines in the third world. She got involved in things that nobody had done before; Aids for example. "She had more guts than anybody else. "I want to carry on the things that she didn't quite finish. I have always wanted to, but was too young."

Although Thursday's visits in London were Prince Harry's first solo engagements, he is unlikely to carry out any more for a while because of school commitments. Travelling discreetly in a small convoy of cars without police outriders, he was accompanied by trusted friend and aide Mark Dyer - a former equerry to the Prince of Wales - and a number of St James's Palace staff and royal protection officers. But he was the only member of the Royal Family on the visits, and the experience was both a daunting and an exciting one, though he felt he needed more practice.

"It was quite difficult at first, being younger and not as experienced as some of the people I was meeting," he said. "I have seen my mother doing it so many times and she was so good at it. But the more I do it in the future, the better I hope to become. "It was very different. In the past, I've always had my father and brother there. At things like the (Queen's Golden) Jubilee, when we met crowds in the Mall, I just followed what they did and shook hands as they did. But it's definitely harder doing it on your own."

Prince Harry plans to take on charitable work gradually and intends to pick areas reflecting the type of causes his mother was interested in, though not necessarily the same organisations. "I would like to think that she would want William and myself to continue, but I've got to settle down to my A levels first," said the Prince, who started his final Eton year a week ago. However he will not become patron of any charities just yet.

For a teenager who, like it or not, gained a certain reputation earlier this year after admitting under-age drinking and smoking cannabis, it may come as a surprise to learn Prince Harry's birthday plans today. "Nothing," he said. "I'm not having a party or anything. My father offered me a birthday party at home but I turned it down. I don't actually like being the centre of attention. "Plus, there's all the organisation I would have to do, and I've got school the next day. So it will be a quiet day at home with my father and my brother - my family."

As for the row over his drink and drugs difficulties, revealed in January, he said simply: "That was a mistake and I learned my lesson. It was never my intention to be that way." The young Prince disclosed he was getting a set of golf clubs from his maternal uncle Earl Spencer for his birthday, but insisted: "I'm not obsessed by golf. I play it occasionally, but I don't want to play it professionally."

On the subject of a sporting career, and rumours that Harry wants to become a professional polo player, touring the world with the seasons to compete year-round, this option too, it seems, is out. "That idea was mainly put out to wind up my father," Prince Harry revealed. "We had not discussed my gap year until then, so I casually mentioned spending the year playing polo to him to see what the reaction would be." Putting on a mock teenage huff, he mumbled: "It's not going to happen. Because I can't. It's a simple reason." He said: "But I will still play polo a lot, probably like my father does in charity matches, but also competitively."

About the rest of his future, Prince Harry has given only idle thought at this stage. He has set his heart on a gap year after A levels and wants to do something involving travel and charity work, but says he has no firm plans yet. University is a possibility, though he has not decided on a course, and he said he would also be tempted by a spell in the armed forces. There appear to be a lot of ideas in the melting pot but none that have fully taken shape. The Prince added, no doubt for the benefit of his long-suffering father: "I might take a four-year gap year to fit it all in." For now, Prince Harry can celebrate his 18th birthday knowing he has taken the first steps of carving a future role in life for himself.

The Prince's mischievous side has also been looking forward to teasing Prince William - back from holiday in Kenya yesterday - about the Mario Testino portraits. "Maybe he'll be jealous!" he said. "It was hysterical doing the photo shoot with Mario. We had a really fun day." Asked what he thought when he first saw the prints, Prince Harry laughed and put on a deep, gravely voice to joke: "Who's a good-looking guy!" He added: "But seriously, they're OK. I mean, it's always strange looking at your own picture, isn't it, and I'm the same as anybody. But Mario's a great guy and a great photographer and we had a lot of fun doing them."

Could he potentially nudge Prince William from the top spot as the world's favourite pin-up prince?

"Is he?" Prince Harry at first retorted, his eyebrows raised. "I really wouldn't know. Anyway, William and I don't talk about that much. I certainly don't look at my own pictures and think that."

Media organisations are being charged for using the portraits and Prince Harry has decided that all proceeds will benefit Merlin, a UK-based humanitarian charity providing health care for people in the third world. Diana famously declared she would like to be the "queen of people's hearts". Inevitably, Prince Harry will find himself dubbed the "Prince of Hearts" for his charitable ambitions, but he is not sure the title would suit him. "I'll probably leave that sort of thing with my mother for the time being," said the teenage royal, who - as with Prince William on his 18th birthday - does not want to adopt the formal His Royal Highness status just yet.

Though driven by the achievements and memories of Diana, Prince Harry has also his father to thank for moulding his ambitions. The Prince of Wales is himself patron of 328 charities, and carries out more than 600 engagements a year. "Father is very happy about my plans and has encouraged me to take an interest in my mother's work. He rang me after the visits to make sure I was all right and hadn't taken on too much, but I told him that I really enjoyed them." Which is good, because, if he is serious about his ambitions, he is going to be out and about a great deal more in the future.

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Harry's Interviews