Prince Harry Recalls Finding His “Soulmate” in Meghan Markle

At one point during his speech, Harry looked back at a photograph of Diana meeting Mandela during her visit to Cape Town, South Africa in 1997, which occurred about five months before her death.

“When I first looked at the photo, straight away what jumped out was the joy on my mother’s face,” Harry said, sharing he has the photo framed on his wall. “The playfulness, cheekiness, even. The pure delight to be in communion with another soul so committed to serving humanity.”

He then shifted the focus on Mandela in the photograph. “Here was a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, asked to heal his country from the wreckage of its past and transform it for the future,” Harry said. “A man who had endured the very worst of humanity, vicious racism and state-sponsored brutality. A man who had lost 27 years with his children and family that he would never get back. Twenty-seven years.”

He continued, “Yet, in that photo and so many others, he is still beaming. Still able to see the goodness in humanity. Still buoyant with a beautiful spirit that lifted everyone around him. Not because he was blind to the ugliness, the injustices, of the world—no, he saw them clearly; he had lived them—but because he knew we could overcome them.”