When Prince Harry first arrived in New York City, his thoughts immediately drifted to his family in California, where he was residing at the time.
Prior to entering the stage at the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit in New York City, the Duke of Sussex, who is forty years old, used FaceTime to communicate with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their children, Prince Archie, who is five years old, and Princess Lilibet, who is three years old.
For the purpose of providing his children with a quick virtual tour of the event location, which was located at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, Harry moved the camera around the room as he was having a conversation with his family.
During the first day of his trip to New York City, Prince Harry participated in a panel discussion on mental health and expressed his thoughts on The Diana Award, which is the only organization that was established in honor of his mother, Princess Diana. Alongside the Duke of Sussex was Dr. Tessy Ojo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Diana Award, as well as two recipients of the Diana Legacy Award: Chiara Riyanti Hutapea Zhang, who is 18 years old, and Christina Williams, who is 27 years old.
“He has a very generous and kind heart.” Not only did he assist us in becoming more at ease while we were speaking on stage, but he also provided us with solace after the event was over, Zhang shared with those present. Behind the scenes, he was really on the phone with Meghan. That struck me as extremely nice, and it enabled me to better understand him as a person. He made sure that we did not have any anxiety at all.
“Here is someone in a high-level position who genuinely cares about young people, our voices, and our actions,” Williams remarked on the individual in question. I met someone I admire, and I am leaving the experience with that admiration, if not more affection, since I know he is passionate about the things he represents. They say that you never want to meet your heroes, but I met someone I admire.
It is well known that Harry and Meghan, who are both 43 years old, maintain consistent communication with their own children even while they are away from home. During the month of February, when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex traveled to Canada for the One Year to Go event at the Invictus Games, Meghan took pictures on her phone of Harry trying to ski with his disability in order to “show the kids.”
There was a meeting between Prince Harry, Williams, Zhang, and Ojo, during which they discussed the mental health issues that young people are now facing, as well as the solutions that may be used to enhance the outcomes for their generation. On the same day, the Diana Award made the announcement that it will be beginning its “Decade of Youth Wellbeing” in order to mark its 25th anniversary. The initiative is described as “a bold, ambitious, and collaborative plan to harness the power [of] young people, like Christina and Chiara, to lead positive change,” as stated in the press release.
Behind the scenes, the Duke of Sussex is being supportive and optimistic about the situation.
According to my understanding, he expressed a great deal of encouragement for us, stating that we are going to go out there and perform really well. “He also spoke about issues that he was really concerned about, such as climate change and attempting to de-stigmatize mental health, bringing it down to the level of everyone’s business,” Williams said in an interview with PEOPLE. “Mental health is not the only thing that is important; mental fitness and overall welfare are equally important. For that reason, I think it was a very great way to get us ready for the stage and to put us in a position where we could just speak from the heart.
Both Prince Harry and his brother, Prince William, are supporters of The Diana Award. In March, they went to an event in London that was intended to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the organization. There, they had the opportunity to meet the twenty individuals who had been awarded the Legacy Award from all over the globe.
We are quite appreciative, and it is a great pleasure to have both of her boys coming out in support of our endeavor. This is the ancestry that their mother inherited. “They are both extremely committed to driving change,” Ojo said to PEOPLE at the Concordia Summit, describing what it means to have both of the late Princess of Wales’ sons advocating the cause. “They are both extremely committed to driving change.” We are aware that having their support is a special honor, and we will continue to do all in our power to make them proud and to ensure that their mother’s memory lives on.
One of the first places that the Duke of Sussex went to on his trip to New York was to talk to members of the Diana Award jury. Later on same day, on September 23, he went to an event that was hosted by The HALO Trust, an organization that his late mother had been a strong supporter of up to the time of her passing in 1997. He will continue his journey on September 24, during which he will take part in the Clinton Global Initiative and go to African Parks and Travalyst.