Over the years, Prince Harry has talked about his parents’ divorce of King Charles III and Princess Diana. He has expressed his disappointment of not being able to see either of his parents “enough” during their separation. Furthermore, he has mentioned how the divorce ultimately helped him bond with his wife, Meghan Markle.
In 1996, King Charles and Princess Diana officially divorced after being separated for four years. Harry became a child of divorce that same year. However, his parents had already been separated for four years prior to their divorce. It’s worth noting that Diana passed away one year after the divorce was finalized.
On December 9, 1992, King Charles and Diana announced that they were separating after 11 years of marriage. They had gotten married on July 29, 1981, at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England, and Queen Camilla had been among the guests.
Biographies and interviews from both King Charles and Diana later revealed the tumultuous nature of their relationship and the king’s affair with his now-wife. In the Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan,” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex discussed how their parents’ divorce had affected them. Meghan’s parents, Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle, divorced when she was six, while Harry’s parents divorced when he was eight.
Harry recalled the paparazzi harassment endured by his late mother, which he witnessed only get more intense after the divorce.
Harry spoke about Princess Diana after her divorce, emphasizing that when she left the institution, she was completely on her own, despite being one of the most influential and powerful women in the world. Diana had also expressed similar thoughts during her controversial BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir in 1995, stating that everything changed and life became very difficult for her after their separation.
Elsewhere in the docuseries, Harry shared he and Meghan have a desire not to “repeat the same mistakes” as their parents.
According to Meghan, it’s common to carry some experiences from childhood into adulthood, particularly if you’re a child of divorced parents. Harry agreed, saying that children of divorced parents share many similarities, regardless of their background. They might feel pulled between different places, experience parental competition, or wish to stay in one place longer than they do. There are various aspects to this experience.
In 2017’s Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, Harry spoke about his childhood where his parents were no longer together.
He described it as an “interesting way of growing up” and mentioned that they didn’t get to see their mother or father enough due to their busy schedules. There were also frequent fights between Harry and his brother, Prince William, during their travels, with Harry often emerging as the winner. Despite the challenges, Harry looks back on his childhood as a unique and intriguing experience.
