Palace unsettled as Prince Harry paid massive sum for talking about grieving Diana
Palace unsettled as Prince Harry paid massive sum for talking about grieving Diana
Hannah Furnell Sat, October 10, 2026 at 4:12 PM UTC
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The Palace reportedly has some thoughts on Prince Harry's new MasterClass, in which he opens up about grieving Princess Diana.
The Palace is reportedly unsettled after Prince Harry was paid a massive sum for talking about grieving Diana.
Ahead of World Mental Health Day on October 10, the Duke of Sussex, 42, teamed up with neuroscientist and grief expert Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor to launch a new MasterClass, available October 8, called Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss. During their intimate and emotional chat, Harry and O'Connor explored the science of grief and how to overcome it.
Harry opened up like never before about losing his mother, Princess Diana, at age 12, serving in Afghanistan, attending therapy, and having panic attacks. However, sources have now claimed that his introspective discussion was worth a fortune, leaving the Palace deeply uncomfortable. This comes after Elton John's "Team Windsor" move, with King Charles, appeared to be a "silent message to Team Sussex."
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Sources have told Rob Shuter's Naughty But Nice that Harry has "turned his personal grief into another lucrative business opportunity," alleging he received a guaranteed $250,000 for his MasterClass appearance.
Shuter noted that while typical celebrity instructors reportedly get paid around $150,000, insiders told him that Harry negotiated a fair bit more. "Harry isn't an ordinary celebrity guest," a source told Naughty But Nice.
Prince Harry reportedly received $250,000 for his MasterClass appearance, where he opened up about Princess Diana (Image: MasterClass)
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However, Harry added a limit on what he opened up about, with the insider explaining, "Harry was willing to talk about Diana, grief and losing his mother. What he wasn't willing to discuss was William, Catherine or Uncle Andrew. Those subjects were off-limits."
This was hardly the first time Harry spoke about Diana, though. He has opened up about her in his memoir, Spare, documentaries, and countless other interviews.
Still, sources claim this Harry's MasterClass is different. "Harry has already told much of his story," a royal source told Naughty But Nice. "Diana remains the one subject audiences will always pay to hear him discuss."
Harry's paycheck for the MasterClass has led many to speculate about his new business strategy, weeks after he and Meghan Markle relocated back to the U.K.
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"Harry isn't selling royal secrets this time," the insider added. "He's selling his own memories. And those memories are worth a quarter of a million dollars."
MasterClass approached Harry about developing a MasterClass on grief last year, People reports. His installment, filmed in California earlier this summer, supports two organizations that help young people with grief.
Prince Harry said he felt guilty about being happy without Diana (Image: MasterClass)
One of the biggest bombshells Harry drops in the new MasterClass is that he felt guilty about being happy without Diana. He said he did not cry when he learned she had died and only broke down at her burial.
He didn't cry over her death again for nearly two decades. The Duke also admitted to worrying that if he healed from his grief, it might somehow weaken his connection to his mother.
"I'd spent so long emotionally numb, to a large extent, because I felt disloyal and guilty for the possibility of being happy and joyful without her," Harry said.
"I felt like I had to be sad and I had to be emotionally numb to prove to her that I missed her." His perspective changed dramatically later on.
"But the reality is, what I discovered was actually that she just wanted me to be happy," he added. "And that was a huge mental shift for me. It freed me, and it gave me a whole different outlook on life."
Harry also admitted that after Diana died in 1997, shutting off his painful memories resulted in him forgetting what her voice and laugh sounded like.
Prince Harry said he shut off his painful memories (Image: Getty)
"The defense mechanism for the mind and the body was shut down the emotions and shut down the memories," he said. "Not just the bad memories, the good memories as well.
"I forgot what my mom sounded like. I forgot her laugh. I couldn't really visualize what she looked like without looking at a photograph of her."
Years later, Harry said a therapist suggested he smell his mother's perfume to help him recall Diana. "And it was like being transported to another time," the Duke said. "And it unlocked everything that had been locked previously."
He said it was like breaking through an emotional wall he had built after Diana's death. "But spraying my mother's scent was almost like knocking certain bricks through so that I could see through and certain memories and experiences could start seeping through."
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
