diana 1

Prince Harry recalls the moment his mother held the hand of a man dying of AIDS

July 21, 2016

Prince Harry has made a speech at the International AIDS conference where he spoke proudly of his mother's charity work to raise awareness for AIDS and to remove stigma surrounding the disease.

The 31-year-old spoke about Princess Diana's work, saying: "She started very punchy [on AIDS]. She smashed the stigma around HIV on more than one occasion. It had a huge impact, and a huge impact on my life as well."

© Photo: PA

Prince Harry spoke about his mother at the conference

He recalled the moment his mother comforted a man dying of the disease, saying: "When my mother held the hand of a man dying of AIDS in an East London hospital, no one would have imagined that just over a quarter of a century later treatment would exist that could see HIV-positive people live full, healthy, loving lives."

"But thanks to the work of leaders in the fight against HIV – people like Nelson Mandela, Sir Elton John, the brave activists of TAG and ACT UP, people like Dr Peter Piot, and like my mother, Princess Diana – we have made huge progress."

The fifth-in-line to the throne has been encouraging people to take a HIV test, and showed just how easy it was by live streaming his own test on Facebook. He joked: "So whether you're a man, woman, gay, straight, black, white, whatever – even ginger – why wouldn't you come and have a test?"

© Photo: Getty Images

Prince Harry spoke about his mother's work

Elton John shared the video on his own Instagram account, writing: "In 1991, Princess Diana moved a mountain by addressing the stigma surrounding people living with HIV/AIDS. She showed the world we could safely wrap our arms around AIDS patients, by shaking hands with a patient without gloves.

"Today in London, Prince Harry gave that stigma a knock on the head by showing the world how easy and simple it is to take an HIV test. Bravo Prince Harry! Your mother would be so proud of you."

Sign up to HELLO! Daily for all the latest and best royal coverage

Email Address

By entering your details, you are agreeing to HELLO! Magazine User Data Protection Policy. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information, please click here.

More Royalty

See more