Prince Harry opens up about his mother's death: 'It was a lot of buried emotion'

Prince Harry has opened up about the death of his mother, Princess Diana, sharing that he "never really dealt with what happened".

During a revealing documentary with ITV about his charity work in Lesotho, Africa, Harry explained that after losing his mother at the tender age of 12, he buried his grief and "tried not to think about it".

"It was a lot of buried emotion," he said.

The Prince described that now, at 32 years old, he has different outlook on life. "I used to bury my head in the sand, and let everything around you tear you to pieces," he said.

Harry also spoke about finding meaning in his life, something he struggled with after the death of his mother. 

"I was fighting the system, going, 'I don't want to be this person,'" Harry said of the years after Princess Diana's death. "My mother died when I was very, very young and I don't want to be in the position. Now I'm so energised, fired up, to be lucky enough to be in a position to make a difference."

And he certainly has.

In 2006 Harry co-founded the charity, Sentebale - which means "forget me not" - with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. The organisation works to improve conditions for the thousands of children and young people affected by HIV and AIDS.

In the documentary, Prince Harry In Africa, the young royal also urges people to do good, saying, it's "fun to be good" but "boring to be bad".

"If you're me, if you're your Average Joe, if whoever you are, if you can't affect politics and change the big things in the world then just do whatever you can do - whether it's in your local community, your village, your local church - walking down the street, opening a door for an old lady, helping them cross the road.

"Whatever if it is, just do good. Why wouldn't you?"

Over the last six months, Harry has been increasingly candid about his feelings around the death of his mother, expressing that he regrets not speaking about his grief sooner.