Dear Harry,<\/p>\n
Welcome home?!?<\/p>\n
I am thrilled that you are in Canada!\u00a0 I hope you feel welcome and are able to live life on your terms with your beautiful family.\u00a0 We are so excited to have you!<\/p>\n
I don’t know why I am so fascinated with your family, but I am.\u00a0 \u00a0I watched your mom and dad get married, in the early morning hours here in Canada.\u00a0 I was a kid.\u00a0 It was like watching a fairy tale.<\/p>\n
The world\u00a0 watched as your mom, Diana, tried to find her place in the palace.\u00a0 It was never easy for her which was so sad to watch.<\/p>\n
We watched as she became a mother, not once, but twice. You brought her joy!\u00a0 That was so clear.<\/p>\n
We watched as her boys grew up.\u00a0 We watched as she tried to give you a sense of normal.\u00a0 Visits to fast food restaurants and amusement parks,\u00a0 making sure you saw the importance of giving back, and helping people.\u00a0She wanted things to be different for her boys.<\/p>\n
It was hard on all of us when that fairy tale ended.\u00a0 That wasn’t how it was supposed to be.\u00a0 She deserved the happy ending.<\/p>\n
I remember when the divorce was final and Diana really started to discover who she was.\u00a0 She found a purpose in the world.\u00a0 She WAS the people’s princess.\u00a0 Queen of our hearts.<\/p>\n
Sadly, she was pursued by the press endlessly.\u00a0 They just wouldn’t leave her alone. I can’t imagine what that feels like from a child’s perspective.\u00a0 To watch as your mom was hunted down.<\/p>\n
And then that horrible night when she was killed in a Paris car crash. I can’t imagine how you felt in that moment.<\/p>\n
I will forever remember where I was when I heard the news and how I felt.\u00a0 \u00a0I remember the disbelief. The shock.<\/p>\n
I cried for you.<\/p>\n
I cried for all of us who have ever lost someone so important to us.<\/p>\n
I remember watching the funeral on television and watching as her boys followed the carriage.\u00a0 So much sadness.\u00a0 Looking so alone.\u00a0 Your head bowed low.\u00a0 I can’t imagine having to share that kind of grief with the world watching.<\/p>\n
I know the feeling too well. Maybe that’s why I feel so connected to you.<\/p>\n
I too, lost my mom in a car accident.\u00a0 My brother and sister too. It will be 30 years this July. You never completely heal from that kind of loss.<\/p>\n
Harry,\u00a0 I am so very sorry for that pain.<\/p>\n
I hope that your decision today will ease some of that hurt.\u00a0 You didn’t ask to be made prince.\u00a0 It’s a roll you were born into.\u00a0 There was no choice or decision.\u00a0 Yes, you have money and riches.\u00a0 You live in a palace and travel the world.\u00a0 Seems so glamorous doesn’t it?\u00a0 Seems like prison to me.<\/p>\n
I think I’d rather have my freedom.\u00a0 And my ordinary, everyday life.<\/p>\n
Harry – I think you are so brave for doing what you are doing,\u00a0 stepping back from your royal duties, as hard as that must be,\u00a0 and I think your mother is smiling down, and oh so proud of you.<\/p>\n
You are so much like her in the very best of ways.<\/p>\n
If you’re ever in the area, let us show you around. We have some pretty great things to see and do in Sarnia-Lambton.<\/p>\n
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