'Nobody told me joy was still allowed' - Prince Harry's heartbreaking realisation that Prince William had already come to terms with

Prince Harry was just 12 years old when he lost his mother and for years after Princess Diana's tragic death he felt "guilty" about the thought of finding joy without her. Now 42, the Duke of Sussex is reflecting upon his experience of grief in a new Masterclass online discussion with Dr Mary-Frances O'Connor, neuroscientist and grief expert.

In the trailer for Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss, Harry confessed that he "felt like [he] had to be sad in order to prove to her that [he] missed her". The idea of being happy again was something he didn't consider for a long time, viewing it as a kind of "betrayal".

"I'd spent so long being emotionally numb, to a large extent because nobody told me joy was still allowed. That it wasn't betrayal," he continued.

As reported by the BBC, King's younger son also said he felt "disloyal and guilty" about the idea of being joyful now his mother was gone. Harry hopes the Masterclass will give those watching it "permission and the tools" to access happiness beyond grief.

The realisation he eventually came to himself - that it "wasn't betrayal" - is something that Prince William seems to have reached ahead of him. The Duke of Sussex said he went to war, in part to try and "outrun" his feelings, but by the time he first deployed, his big brother had found love with the Princess of Wales at university.

During Harry's second deployment, William and Kate were married and expecting their first baby together. The Princes were at different stages of life and perhaps in their stages of grief too, as the Prince of Wales had so much to be happy about and was able to let himself enjoy that.

That's not to say that it was smooth-sailing for Prince William and there were likely many times during those big life moments where he inevitably felt the loss of Princess Diana deeply. However, it looks like he maybe didn't view joy as a "betrayal" of his mother like Harry.

He was 15 when Diana died and he met Kate earlier than Harry met Meghan. The Princess of Wales has been a huge source of support for William and he's spoken about this particularly after they had children, which he said made "emotions come back".

"Having children is the biggest life changing moment, it really is… I think when you've been through something traumatic in life, and that is like you say, your Dad not being around, my mother dying when I was younger, the emotions come back, in leaps and bounds," he said to Marvin Sordell on the Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health documentary.

After acknowledging he "definitely found it very, at times, overwhelming," William continued, "Me and Catherine particularly, we support each other and we go through those moments together and we kind of evolve and learn together."

The Prince and Princess of Wales keep Princess Diana's memory alive for their kids and Prince Harry and Meghan do this for Archie and Lilibet too. Next year is the 30th anniversary of her death and just a few months before the release of the Masterclass discussion, Harry revealed that the Sussexes have a tradition of marking 31st August - and Diana's birthday on 1st July - by baking lemon drizzle cake.