How fatherhood helps Prince Harry understand Princess Diana

This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Anderson Cooper interviewed Prince Harry ahead of the release of his new memoir, Spare. 

In the wide-ranging interview, Harry discussed his rift from the royal family, the relationship with his brother Prince William, and how the death of their mother, Princess Diana, changed the course of Harry’s entire life.

“For most people who, you know, have lost a parent or lost a sibling at a young age…I think once you’ve accepted that they’re gone, then you accept your life is never going be the same ever again,” Prince Harry told Cooper.

Cooper had never met any member of the royal family prior to interviewing Harry. 

“One of the things that interested me about interviewing Prince Harry, and frankly reading his book, is that we don’t really know who he is,” Cooper told 60 Minutes Overtime. “Anybody who’s been interested at all in the royal family has watched Prince Harry grow up from the moment he was born…The public has a certain perception of all these people that they read about or they see on television. And yet the reality of how that person sees themselves and sees their own life is often very different. And I find that a really interesting subject.”

Now a parent of two children, three-year-old Archie and one-year-old Lilibet, Harry tells Cooper he has a new appreciation for what for what his mother went through having to dodge press while caring for two young boys. Harry says he hopes to create a life for his own kids that is insulated from paparazzi. The 38-year-old also addresses how he believes his mother would react to his fractured relationship with Prince William.

“I think she [Princess Diana] would be sad that it is where it is now,” Harry said. “I believe that she would want reconciliation. And I hope that’s what’s achievable.”

You can watch Anderson Cooper’s interview with Prince Harry below.

This report was produced by Keith Zubrow and edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.