The Duke of Sussex has spoken movingly about showing affection to his children just as his mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, did to him.
Harry has described in the past how Diana would squeeze him and his brother the Prince of Wales as “tight as possible”, and in a podcast interview said he does the same to his son and daughter after a challenging day.
He spoke on the Joe Marler Will See You Now podcast, which was recorded last Thursday and is out on Monday, before his children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, were taken by the Sussexes to see their grandfather the King the following day – the first meeting in four years.
The duke told Celebrity Traitors star Marler, a former England rugby union forward whom he has met before: “The resilience of kids is amazing and the way they view life is so incredibly refreshing.
“And if a day is hard, one thing I will do is always squeeze my kids that extra, extra tight.”
In the fast-paced light-hearted podcast Harry answered a stream of questions in the style of a mock therapy session hosted by “Dr Marler”.
The duke was asked to give his full name – “Henry Charles Albert David, Duke of Sussex”- and joked that his hair was not “ginger” but “auburn”.
When asked to name his “favourite trashy TV show” he replied “Love Island”, adding: “I don’t watch Love Island, I have watched Love Island,” and asked which other Harry he would be for the day, “Harry Styles, Harry Kane or Harry Potter”, said “Kane on a winning day”.
He gave his prediction about England’s chances of the World Cup. saying: “I think it’s coming home, not going to be easy – never is.”
Asked about his grooming regime, he replied “shit, shave, shower” and “I trim my beard every five or six days, just to keep it a little bit tidy”.
The balding duke added: “Nothing really happening on top, I get a hair cut, otherwise I try not to look at what’s happening.”
The questions became more serious when he was asked how he dealt with trauma, replying “exercise, sport and being able to find the time to take yourself somewhere, do something – repetition is great, have a routine”.
He added: “Boxing, another thing that I really enjoy, just to let the aggression out, get a sweat on, to me it’s always about getting a sweat on.”
Harry travelled to the UK last week to mark the one-year countdown till his Invictus Games is hosted by Birmingham, and midway through the podcast he was joined to talk about the legacy of the Paralympic-style event by broadcaster and former Invictus competitor JJ Chalmers.
The duke said about Invictus competitors, injured and sick military veterans and those still serving: “A society needs more role models, people like this, that’s what the Invictus has proven, we just created the platform.
“And they say, you know, thanks to me, they say thanks to the team. It’s like ‘we just help facilitate your recovery so that you can show the world who you really are’.”
