Prince Harry, 34, tragically lost his mother, Princess Diana, when he was 12 years old.
In a 2017 interview, the British royal said he turned to boxing as a coping mechanism after the 1997 car crash that claimed his mother’s life.
He told The Telegraph:
“During those years I took up boxing, because everyone was saying boxing is good for you and it’s a really good way of letting out aggression.”
So it was fitting that he and wife Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, went on a visit to a charity boxing center last week.
The royal couple, who are expecting their first child this spring, stopped by Bristol’s Empire Fighting Chance to meet some children who participate in the program.
That’s where he met Iestyn Jones, a young boy who lost his father when he was five years old, Yahoo Style UK reports.
When the prince heard what Jones had gone through, he cleared the room to speak to him alone.
Prince Harry wanted him to know that he’d gone through something similar, the boy said:
“It just got a bit emotional because he mentioned something. He knew some stuff about me and the same thing happened to me. We had a chat for about 10 minutes. When we had a group picture at the end he made sure I was standing next to him. They were lovely people. I didn’t expect them to be like that. They were amazing people.”
Prince Harry told Bristol Post that places like the boxing center are important for youth going through difficulties. He explained:
“The thought of sitting down in a chair, one-to-one, with a therapist, can be a real deterrent. However, this is the sort of place that you don’t even realize you are being cured, but you are.”
Prince Harry and Markle will welcome a child of their own in May or early April, Dearly previously reported.