Dean Purcell - Pool/Getty ImagesPrince Harry gave a young boy hope Tuesday.
With wife Meghan Markle by his side, the Duke of Sussex was in the midst of a walkabout at Viaduct Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, when he stopped to talk to 6-year-old Otia Nante. After learning Otia's mother had committed suicide, a concerned Harry comforted him, saying, "Life will always be all right. You know that? I've made it to 34 years old and life is great. I have a beautiful wife and a baby on the way. Your life is going to be sorted. Don't you worry about that." Breaking royal protocol, Harry snapped a selfie with Otia, as seen in The Daily Telegraph.
Harry could certainly relate to Otia, as he was just 12 years old when his own mother, Princess Diana, was killed in a tragic car crash 21 years ago. He then offered support to Te Nante, Otia's grandmother, assuring her, "You're doing a great job, Nan. Nans are so important in our lives."
Last summer, Harry opened up to Newsweek about how his mother's death impacted his childhood. "My mother died when I was very young. I didn't want to be in the position I was in, but I eventually pulled my head out of the sand, started listening to people and decided to use my role for good. I am now fired up and energized and love charity stuff, meeting people and making them laugh. I sometimes still feel I am living in a goldfish bowl, but I now manage it better," said Harry, who first underwent therapy at age 28. "I still have a naughty streak too, which I enjoy and is how I relate to those individuals who have got themselves into trouble."
Harry reiterated that maintaining an "ordinary life" became a high priority after his mother's untimely death. "My mother took a huge part in showing me an ordinary life, including taking me and my brother to see homeless people. Thank goodness I'm not completely cut off from reality," the prince marveled. "People would be amazed by the ordinary life [Prince William] and I live. I do my own shopping. Sometimes, when I come away from the meat counter in my local supermarket, I worry someone will snap me with their phone. But I am determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one, too."
Talking about Diana's legacy was easy—but talking about her funeral was much harder. "My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television," Harry said. "I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don't think it would happen today."