Prince Harry meets with children who have also lost parents

Prince Harry may be royalty, but he was once a child who was grieving the loss of a parent. He met with children in Brazil this week, but he didn’t feel he could compare his life to theirs.

A big part of a prince’s job is to do good across the world, but for Prince Harry, it appears to be more than just a job. The prince let his emotional side show while out meeting children on a seven-day trip to South America.

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Prince Harry was on the continent to meet with ACER, the Association of Support for Children at Risk, a Brazilian charity. According to E! News, the organization’s purpose is to help children who have lost one or both of their parents.

Prince Harry was only 12 years old when he lost his own mother, Princess Diana, in a car crash, and he couldn’t help but relate to the children he was meeting with.

“There are two little girls — I’m quite emotional — just looking at them, I wanted to talk about my own experiences,” Harry told reporters. “But there is no point because it is just so far removed.”

The little girls from São Paolo had lost their mother to murder and their father to jail, and were being raised by their grandmother. Harry said he didn’t feel it was fair to compare his own experiences with theirs.

“The bravery of them looking at me, smiling at me… I wanted to use my own experiences in a very small way to try to give them a bit of understanding about the fact [that] I see what [they’re] going through,” he explained. “But you hear the stories and think that’s nothing to what they have been through.”

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Prince Harry admitted to tearing up while he was visiting with the children, saying he was “completely overwhelmed and shocked. I’ve never blubbed in public as far as I can remember, but I was pretty damn close. It was amazing to hear those stories.”

The newly-single prince also did some sightseeing while he was in Brazil and he attended a few World Cup games. He also visited a rain forest where he planted some saplings and talked about preserving the environment in the area.