Harry glanced back during one of his speeches at the photograph Diana took with Mandela in Cape Town, South Africa, 1997. This was about five months prior to her death.
“When I first looked at the photo, straight away what jumped out was the joy on my mother’s face,” Harry said, sharing he has the photo framed on his wall. “The playfulness, cheekiness, even. It is pure joy to share communion with someone so dedicated to humanity.
He then shifted the focus on Mandela in the photograph. Harry explained, “Here was an individual who had the burden of the whole world upon his shoulders. “A man who had endured the very worst of humanity, vicious racism and state-sponsored brutality. A man who had lost 27 years with his children and family that he would never get back. Twenty-seven years.”
He continued, “Yet, in that photo and so many others, he is still beaming. A savior of humanity, he is still able see its goodness. He was still buoyant and had a wonderful spirit that lifted all those around him. Not because he was blind to the ugliness, the injustices, of the world—no, he saw them clearly; he had lived them—but because he knew we could overcome them.”