![Prince Harry visits HIV Service at Kings College Hospital London Prince Harry visits HIV Service at Kings College Hospital London](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/gettyimages-545303134.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
Prince Harry has expressed regret over not speaking sooner about the death of his mother Princess Diana.
The Prince opened up during a high profile event at Kensington Palace for his mental health charity Heads Together, the BBC reports. The event was attended by several famous athletes.
When asked by former English international soccer player Rio Ferdinand, whose wife died from cancer last year, about his mother’s death, Harry responded, “You know, I really regret not ever talking about it.” The 31-year-old prince revealed that he neglected to speak about her “for the first 28 years” of his life.
“It is okay to suffer, but as long as you talk about it. It is not a weakness. Weakness is having a problem and not recognizing it and not solving that problem,” the prince told a BBC morning television program at the event.
Prince Harry went on to explain that the key message behind his event was to show that anyone from athletes to members of the royal family can suffer from mental health issues. “Whether you’re a member of the Royal Family, whether you’re a soldier, whether you’re a sports star, whether you’re a team sport, individual sport, whether you’re a white van driver, whether you’re a mother, father, a child, it doesn’t really matter.”
Prince Harry lost his mother to a car crash in 1997, when he was 12 years old.
[BBC]
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