Prince Harry hugs war widow who ‘shattered her son’s world’ by telling him his dad had died

Prince Harry comforted a bereft widow as she told him the story of losing her husband while he was fighting in Afghanistan and how she had to break the news to their son

Prince Harry has been seen comforting a widow as she opened up about having to tell her young son his father had been killed in Afghanistan.

Saturday marks armed forces day and a charity that supports bereaved military children, Scotty’s Little Soldiers, has released footage of an interview between their founder Nikki Scott and the Duke of Sussex. The chat sees Nikki share her devastating story as well as Harry sharing his own feelings about the loss of his mother.

Nikki’s husband Corporal Lee Scott served with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment and in July 2009 was killed, leaving her with their seven-month-old daughter, Brooke, and five-year-old son, Kai, who she had to break the news to. Talking to Harry she said: “It was the worst. How do you tell a five-year-old this?

Harry discussed bereavement with Nikki as she told her story ( Image: Scotty’s TV/Youtube)

“I took him up and sat him on the bed and I said, ‘Kai, do you remember where Daddy was?’ and he said, ‘yeah, Afghan’, and I said, ‘something really bad has happened and the baddies (because he used to play army) have hurt dad and he’s died’.”

Nikki then burst into tears as she discussed the difficulties of “shattering her son’s world “. The tragic loss inspired her to set up Scotty’s Little Soldiers in 2010 in order to help other children going through the same ordeal. Prince Harry serves as their global ambassador, with the interview having been filmed in May when he visited the UK and surprised children at a Scotty’s event.

The conversation saw Nikki discuss with Harry his experience of losing his mother Princess Diana when he was only 12. Harry said: “You convince yourself that the person you’ve lost wants you, or you need to be sad for as long as possible to prove to them that they are missed. But then there’s this realisation of, no, they must want me to be happy.”

Harry also spoke about his own experience of grief as a child ( Image: Scotty’s TV/Youtube)

Harry also stressed the importance of talking about what you are feeling as he added: “That’s the hardest thing, especially for kids, I think, which is, ‘I don’t want to talk about it because it will make me sad, but once realising if I do talk about it, and I’m celebrating their life, then actually, things become easier’.”

Scotty’s Little Soldiers currently supports over 680 children, with their estimates claiming 2,100 children of a parent who has served in the British Armed Forces are newly bereaved. The charity has filmed videos with several young people sharing their story and “remembering their heroes” ahead of Armed Forces Day.