How Princess Diana’s secret media strategy may have influenced Prince Harry

Prince Harry has been carving his own path in the spotlight ever since he stepped down as a full time working royal.

Helped along the way by his wife, Meghan Markle, the British spare has often bested his naysayers by doing his own thing — that includes his drawn out media plans.

While Harry and Meghan are at this point synonymous with the lucrative deals they have cut with the likes of Netflix and other companies, it would appear that their post royal strategy was initially among his mother, Princess Diana’s agenda.

Background

Journalist and editor Tina Brown, while writing for Tatler, has revealed that Princess Di “was focused on repositioning herself as a woman of substance” after her divorce from then Prince Charles.

Much like her youngest son now, the prudent royal was interested in furthering her humanitarian efforts by employing her own global status.

As Brown came to know about the former Princess of Wales’ plans during lunch one fateful day, the media personality revealed that she “was struck by the clarity of her vision.”

“She outlined what would now be considered a broad media content deal – a film every two years, each one the centrepiece of a discrete humanitarian campaign. First, she said, she would raise awareness of the issue, then produce a documentary in partnership with a television channel, and ultimately leave a structure in place to maintain her involvement with the cause,” the author penned in an article which was published on what would have been Diana’s 60th birthday this year.

Maternal connection

In 2022, the Duke of Sussex told PEOPLE, “I honor my mother in everything I do. I am my mother’s son.”

Whether he may have known about Princess Diana’s original scheme or not, it is clear that Prince Harry remains irrevocably connected to his mother.

Though he was only 12 years of age when Diana sadly passed away in 1997, there are many causes, close to her heart, which Harry has taken on since. Through his landmine excursion in Angola as well as the latest HIV/Aids campaign, among others, Diana’s youngest has kept the flame of her legacy alive by continuing to operate with the same passion she did, on the same projects as her.

Moreover, as far as Diana’s media strategy is concerned, Harry has produced the humanitarian works which his mother also had the vision for but never got the chance to fulfill — renowned works like 2016’s Prince Harry in Africa, 2019’s Harry and Meghan: An African Journey, 2022’s Live to Lead, and 2023’s Heart of Invictus.