Prince Harry takes his role as a father very seriously. The 37-year-old Duke of Sussex sat down for a new interview with Today's Hoda Kotb and opened up about everything from his advice to his children as well as how he keeps the memory of his late mom, Princess Diana, alive.
Harry, who shares 2-year-old son Archie and 10-month-old daughter Lilibet with wife Meghan Markle, confirmed that their son inherited his "cheeky" personality, telling Kotb, "I always try and keep that. I think that, the cheekiness is something that keeps you alive."
Now that Archie is a bit older, Harry says that he talks to him about "Grandma Diana," and shows him photos of the Princess of Wales that they have around their house. (Princess Diana tragically died in a car accident in August 1997 at age 36. Harry was just 12 years old at the time of her death.)
“I don’t tell him all the stuff that happened," he said. "But certainly, ‘This is Grandma Diana.'"
Harry went on to say that in recent years, he feels his mom's presence daily. “It's constant. It has been over the last two years. More so than ever before," he said.
"It’s almost as though she has done her bit with my brother and now she is very much like helping me. She’s got him set up and now she’s helping me set up. That’s what it feels like. He’s got his kids, I’ve got my kids," Harry added of Prince William's three children with Kate Middleton. "The circumstances are obviously different. I feel her presence in almost everything I do now, but definitely more so in the last two years than ever before without question. She’s watching over us."
When asked what his favorite part about fatherhood is, Harry gushed, "All of it, the chaos, the learning, the reminder of just every element of yourself and soul. When you are not a parent you can get sucked into all sorts of stuff and forget who you are."
"I love it and I love every part of it," he added. "I always wanted to be a dad and have my own kids and now I have two little people who I am responsible for."
While Harry and Meghan stay busy working from their home in Montecito, California, the royal described what a random Wednesday is like for the family of four.
"It revolves around my kids as much as humanly possible," he told Kotb. "This whole working from home stuff is not all its cracked up to be. Certainly post-COVID, it is really hard when you and your kids are in the same place. It is hard to separate the work from them because they overlap. Archie spends more time interrupting our Zoom calls than anybody else. But he also gets us off them which is nice."
As for what Harry is working hardest at, he shared, “There’s so much to be happy about in the outside world, but there’s also so much to worry about. My sort of mantra now every day, it’s a dangerous one, because I need to make sure that I don’t have burnout, but it’s trying to make the world a better place for my kids. Otherwise, what’s the point in bringing kids into this world, right? It’s a responsibility that I feel as a parent."
Harry and Meghan recently spent time away from their children while visiting the Invictus Games, but they were also able to get in some quality time with another important family member -- Queen Elizabeth II.
"Both Meghan and I had tea with her so it was really nice to catch up with her," he shared.
When asked his favorite thing about his soon-to-be 96-year-old grandmother, Harry gushed, "Her sense of humor and her ability to see the humor in so many different things. We have a really special relationship and we talk about things she can’t talk about with anyone else. That’s a nice piece to it."
He quipped, "But after some point you get bored of birthdays."
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