EXCLUSIVE: Prince Harry Branded an 'Attention-Seeker' Over Claim He Chats to Princess Diana's 'Ghost'

Prince Harry is being ridiculed after revealing he studies a photograph of his late mother, Princess Diana, and wonders what she thinks about his life while searching for signs of her presence more than three decades after her death, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

The Duke of Sussex, 42, described his continuing spiritual connection with Diana during a MasterClass discussion about grief alongside neuroscientist Mary-Frances O'Connor.

Harry, who recently returned to Britain with his wife, Meghan Markle, 45, and their two children, explained how he regularly examines a portrait taken by French photographer Patrick Demarchelier for a December 1995 edition of Harper's Bazaar, while describing how he is convinced it is full of her spiritual, ghost-like presence.

Harry said: "I can actually get eye contact from her, and there's a cheekiness in her smile… I just feel very connected to her."

The prince also admitted he sometimes studies the photograph for changes in Diana's appearance, although he recognizes the image remains unchanged.

He went on: "I find myself looking at her and wondering, 'What is she thinking about what I am doing right now?'"

Harry added he examines the portrait "to see if the facial expression changes, but it never does."

A royal source claimed: "Harry has opened himself up to a huge amount of ridicule by talking about his mother's photograph almost as though it is a living presence in his life. There's a difference between feeling comforted by a picture of someone you've lost and suggesting you're looking for changes in their expression or receiving messages from beyond the grave.

"Some people are mocking him online and in the palace over the idea of a grown man studying an old portrait of his mother and wondering what she's thinking about his latest decisions. To them, it sounds rather like Harry is having a conversation with Diana's ghost, which sounds ridiculous.

"Trolls are calling him an attention-seeker and saying he is tastelessly cashing in on his mother's memory in a really basic, mawkish way."

Another royal insider added: "There's an uncomfortable irony in Harry repeatedly wondering what Diana would make of his life today. His relationship with his brother has deteriorated dramatically; he has publicly criticized the royal institution and his personal decisions have generated years of controversy. Naturally, people are going to speculate about whether Diana would have approved of everything that has happened."

Harry's remarks offer an unusually intimate account of how he continues to process his mother's death, which occurred in a Paris car crash in August 1997, when Diana was 36 and Harry was 12.

The prince explained he initially avoided confronting his grief over his mother's passing, even when photographs of Diana surrounded him at boarding school.

He said: "Even though I had photographs in my bedroom at school, I distinctly remember not thinking about my mother because thinking about something that sad was never gonna bring her back."

Harry described feeling "emotionally numb" for years, believing experiencing happiness might somehow betray his mother's memory.

"I felt like I had to be sad and I had to be emotionally numb in order to prove to her that I missed her," the royal explained.

His perspective eventually changed when he accepted Diana would have wanted him to enjoy his life.

He added: "It freed me, and it gave me a whole different outlook on life."

Harry revealed he thinks about Diana "pretty much every night and most mornings," sometimes interpreting unexpected experiences as messages from her.

"I feel it as an energy. And also it's visual. It's a sign. And it's very much connected to her," Harry said.

Harry also reflected on his military career, describing joining the armed forces at 20 as the "perfect distraction" from unresolved grief.

He said: "For 15, 20 years, when I was being asked, 'Are you OK?' My response was, 'I'm fine.'"

Harry explained his experiences serving in Afghanistan subsequently brought earlier psychological difficulties to the surface.

He said his "post-traumatic stress was not tied" to military service, but added deployment "appeared to be a trigger for other traumas that had stored themselves within me."

During publicity for his 2023 memoir Spare, Harry also discussed how Diana might regard his estrangement from his brother, Prince William, 44.

Speaking to Michael Strahan on Good Morning America, Harry added: "I think she'd be looking at it long term to know that there are certain things that we need to go through to be able to heal the relationship."