opinion

If you didn't love Prince Harry before, you will after this.

Harry has spoken out about how the loss of his mother is “nothing” compared to the suffering of the kids he works with for charity. 

Prince Harry is a very private playboy. He, like his big brother, is expert at talking without revealing anything. It’s an essential royal skill.

But the suffering of children he works with through charities has spurred him to talk about the loss of his mother, Princess Diana, and how it’s been put in perspective by their pain.

On a visit to a social project in a poor area of São Paulo, Brazil, Prince Harry said he was close to “blubbing” after meeting a group of orphaned Brazilian children and their carers.

Prince Harry connects with kids so easily.

Among them was a woman bringing up her two granddaughters because their father is in jail and their mother was murdered.

"There are two little girls – I'm quite emotional – just looking at them I wanted to talk about my own experiences," he said. "But there is no point because it is just so far removed. The bravery of them looking at me, smiling at me ... I wanted to use my own experiences in a very small way to try to give them a bit of understanding about the fact that I see what you're going through. But you hear the stories and think that's nothing to what they have been through."

"I was completely overwhelmed and shocked," he told members of the press. "I've never blubbed in public as far as I can remember but I was pretty damn close. It was amazing to hear those stories.

"It seems ridiculous for me to say to these kids how lucky and fortunate they are considering their situation. Obviously they are far from that. But I am only too aware by listening to their stories how many other kids there are like this that aren't as fortunate as them."

The prince was visiting Acer, a project run by a Briton, Jonathan Hannay, to help underprivileged children in Diadema, São Paulo.

One of its projects is to help children with no parents by reuniting them with members of their extended family.

Harry's involvement in the program just makes us love him even more.

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