The Duke of Sussex has shared insights into his family life, including that Archie is “very busy”, Lilibet is “learning to use her voice” and that his three dogs are “emotional support” animals.
Harry attended a call with the 2022 WellChild Awards winners and their families, apologizing for missing the ceremony and not being able to meet them in person.
The Duke was forced to withdraw from attending the event in London on September 8, the day the Queen died, after going to Balmoral in Scotland where his grandmother had fallen ill.
During the video chat released Monday, Harry spoke to each of the winners in turn.
He also described how the UK is “going through a lot right now” with the general population wanting to help each other – but said there are “certain other factions that are making that difficult for people”.
Four-year-old Henry Waines of Bridlington, East Riding, who won the Inspiring Children Ages Four to Seven category, asked the Duke, “How are Archie and Lilibet?”
Harry replied, “You’re doing great – Archie is very, very busy and Lili is learning to use her voice, which is great.”
The Duke was speaking from his home in California, where he lives with the Duchess of Sussex, three-year-old Archie and one-year-old Lili.
Chatting to a confident Henry, the Duke told him: “You sound just like my son Archie. Same little squeaky voice. I love it.”
The Duke said to the boy, “My name is Henry too. But everyone calls me Harry. I have no idea why.”
When Harry was born, his name was Prince Henry of Wales, but palace officials announced that he should be known as Harry.
His father Charles, now King, once explained that this was always the case unless Harry had been “very, very naughty”.
Henry’s mother, Shevonne, told the Duke he was indeed the inspiration behind her son’s naming.
The duke covered his face with his hands in embarrassment and said, “Oh no, don’t say that, and how did that happen?”
Henry was born with serious health conditions that affect his ability to breathe, eat and speak, and he is on a ventilator 24 hours a day.
Hailed for his determination to show how well one can live with a tracheostomy, he climbs trees, plays football and rides a bike without stabilizers, towing a 12kg trailer carrying his ventilator.
Harry also made a video call to 13-year-old Isabelle Delaney, who won the Inspiring Young People Aged 12-14 award, and her family, who live in Solihull in the West Midlands.
Isabelle, who suffers from a number of serious health conditions including autism, ADHD, hypermobility and Irlen Syndrome, was joined on screen by her Labradoodle Hope, who is training to be the teenager’s assistance dog.
Talking about his own three dogs – black Labrador Pula and two rescued beagles, Guy and Mia – Harry said they would charge around and cause mischief every day and what it was like to have five children.
He described them as “emotional support dogs, 100% – if they behave.”
“We all need a dog to calm us down. I have three in this house now. We basically have five children,” the Duke said.
“I have a black lab named Pula, a rescue beagle named Guy and we have another rescue beagle named Mia and all three of them run around chasing the squirrels and causing us all kinds of trouble every day.
“But they’re also 100% emotional companion dogs — if they’re well-behaved.”
The Duke also chatted to Tony Hudgell, who received the Distinguished Recognition Award for four to eleven years.
Tony, who was so badly abused by his birth parents that he had to have his legs amputated, raised more than £1.7million for Evelina Children’s Hospital with its challenge to walk with his new prosthetic legs every day in June 2020.
Tony’s adoptive mother and father, Paula and Mark Hudgell, of West Malling in Kent, sent Harry their condolences on the Queen’s death, with Paula saying: “We felt very much for you.”
The boy asked Harry what his favorite chips were. The Duke replied: “Salt and vinegar – could be wanderers, could be anything as long as it’s salt and vinegar.”
Harry said to Tony: “Thank you for your resilience, your determination, your courage, your strength, you are everything. You seem a bit like a superhero.”
Tony quipped, “A little,” made Harry chuckle.
In addition to the winning children and young people, Harry also spoke to the professional winners, including Lizzie Penn, Senior Play Specialist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and Evelyn Rodger, a Diana pediatric nurse at Children’s Hospices Across Scotland.
He told them Britain was “going through a lot right now” and that there were “certain other factions” making it difficult for people, but Harry didn’t make clear what he was referring to.
“Britain is going through a lot right now. And it takes people like you to keep doing what you do and inspire other people to stand up and help where they can,” he said.
“The feeling I’ve always had, in the UK at least, is that the general population, everyone gets it, everyone wants to get involved and help each other, no matter what.
“There are certain other factions that make that difficult for people, but the way I’m constantly inspired every day is from you guys.”
Ms Rodger’s role was funded by the memorial fund established in honor of Harry’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
She told him, “I think your mother would be very proud of what this money has accomplished and I think she would be very proud of you as a mother too, Harry.”
Harry looked touched and replied, “That’s very cute.”
The Duke said any issues he or anyone else had were simply “sidelined” compared to the difficulties WellChild families face every day.
“Knowing what these families go through every day just puts any issues that I or any of us have on the sidelines because they struggle every day and thank the Lord that WellChild is there to support them,” he said.
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