How Prince Harry and Martin Lewis are united in grief over the tragic loss of their mothers

Prince Harry and Martin Lewis are not two names you would not immediately connect with one another, however they share one unfortunate similarity. They both lost their mothers at the ages of 12 and 11 respectively.

Although the world is familiar with the tragic circumstances behind the late Princess Diana’s death, Martin Lewis’s mother, Alison, also died in a tragic way too. She was killed following a collision with a lorry while she was out horse-riding with his sister. Like Harry, Martin Lewis has described it as a ‘defining moment’ of his life.

With all the drama surrounding the bombshell Harry and Meghan Netflix docu-series, it is all too easy to forget one pivotal moment that shattered and shaped Prince Harry’s life forever more.This is of course the tragic loss of his mother, the late Princess Diana, at the tender age of 12.

Although this has in many ways been extremely well documented over the years, one must never overestimate the devastated effect it has on the decisions that Harry made from that day on.

In the mental health documentary series which he co-created with Oprah Winfrey on Apple TV+, Prince Harry spoke in detail about the childhood trauma he suffered following the death of his mother, Princess Diana. He revealed in the series that he needed therapy to ‘heal myself from the past.’

Prince Harry then went on to reveal in the documentary how much his mother’s death has impacted on him. “When my mum was taken away from me at the age 12, just before my 13th birthday, I didn’t want that life,” he said. “ Sharing the grief of my mother’s death with the world, I was so angry with what happened to her and the fact that there was no justice at all. Nothing came from that.”

He then went on to recount in detail his recollection of her funeral. “For me the thing that I remember the most was the sound of the horses hooves going along the mall, the red brick road,” he revealed. By this point, both of us were in shock. It was like I was outside of my body and just walking along doing what was expected of me, showing one tenth of the emotion that everybody else was showing. This was my mum, you never even met her.”

The pain Prince Harry has suffered over the loss of his mother has as you would expect, never left him. This visceral grief pain is unfortunately something that money expert Martin Lewis has also experienced.

Martin Lewis revealed on Good Morning Britain how he lost his mum suddenly just before he was 12. “It is something I struggle with,” he revealed. “I have done one interview in my life on it and I won’t do another one and I won’t be going into details here because it took a very long time to recover from this.”

Martin Lewis did reveal however that he is a patron of the charity Grief Encounter “so that in thirty years time, when somebody who’s in my position is asked about it, they would've had the counselling and the work that enables them to sit here and not be in this much discomfort as I am right now.”

Grief Encounter offer free, professional support to children, young people and their families, when they need it most. Offering a wide range of accessible services, including 1:1 counselling, residential retreats, group workshops, family fun days and more, the charity ensure that care is tailored to the child or young person; finding the therapies that suit their needs best, and working with them for as long as they may need.

“127 children experience the death of a parent or sibling every day in the U.K," said a Grief Encounter spokesperson. "This year the UK Commission for Bereavement published the first report on how children, adults, and their families are affected by bereavement in the UK. They found out that a quarter received no support from family, and almost a half received no support from friends. At Grief Encounter we know that families who are flooded with grief have experienced more trauma, more prolonged mourning, and more complex grief reactions."

Unfortunately for Martin, he had to confront his grief again when discussing the funeral of Queen Elizabeth 11 with co-host Susanna Reid on Good Morning Britain. When Martin and Susanna discussed Prince William and Prince Harry having to walk behind their mother’s coffin, the obvious similarity between their experience and his own naturally resonated with him. “I find it very difficult to watch. Thank goodness I wasn’t made to walk behind. I didn’t even go.” After the show, Martin was flooded with messages of support.

Grieftalk, the free, national and confidential helpline, offers immediate support and listening services on the phone, on email and via webchat.

You can call grieftalk on 0808 802 0111 weekdays 9am - 9pm.