Prince Harry Reveals the Unusual Item That Helped Him Process Mom Diana’s Death: 'I Took a Deep Sniff'
When Princess Diana passed in August 1997, 12-year-old Harry started going to therapy to cope with the grief.
Prince Harry, in his memoir Spare, made a heartbreaking revelation about how he coped after his mom's death. When Princess Diana passed in August 1997, 12-year-old Harry started going to therapy. Encouraged to confront his loss head-on, he found comfort in Diana's favorite perfume — the familiar scent making him feel as if she was right there with him.
The Prince shared, "At the start of our session, I lifted the lid, took a deep sniff. Like a tab of LSD. I read somewhere that smell is our oldest sense, and that fitted with what I experienced in that moment, images rising from what felt like the most primal part of my brain." Diana's signature scent, First by Van Cleef & Arpels, was a delicate combination of floral and woody elements. She also loved Penhaligon's Bluebell — a blend of fruits, spices, and flowers.
In his memoir, Harry further penned, “I remember one day at Ludgrove, Mummy stuffing sweets into my sock. Outside sweets were forbidden, so Mummy was flouting school rules, giggling as she did so, which made me love her even more.” During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Harry reflected on how therapy — and his mother’s perfume — became unexpected guides in his journey through grief. He admitted that for years, he had built an emotional wall, one that made healing nearly impossible. He said, “The wall has reduced in size. That is partly through writing a book, partly through therapy, and having her scent, her perfume. And spraying it and being able to unlock memories that I never thought I had.”
Harry shared that the scent of his father’s cologne also reminded him of his late mother. He wrote, “He’d slather the stuff on his cheeks, his neck, his shirt. Flowery, with a hint of something harsh, like pepper or gunpowder, was made in Paris. Said on the bottle. Which made me think of Mummy.” Harry's unusual coping mechanisms also included psychedelics and psilocybin mushrooms. In his 60 Minutes interview, he shared that he often found it difficult to cry. Desperate not to bottle it up, he occasionally even turned to watching old videos of his mom in the hopes that they would provide the release he was seeking. In a conversation with Anderson Cooper, Harry also confessed that for years, he clung to the belief that his mom had staged her death to escape the media scrutiny.
Over the years, both Harry and Prince William have made many efforts to honor their late mother’s legacy. William named his daughter Princess Charlotte after Diana. Harry did the same with his daughter Lilibet.
