Haunted by Diana’s death, Prince Harry talks of how he feared losing Meghan, too

In this March 9, 2020, photo, Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan arrive for the annual Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in London. (REUTERS/File Photo
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Updated 21 May 2021
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Haunted by Diana’s death, Prince Harry talks of how he feared losing Meghan, too

  • Harry was 12 years old when his mother died in 1997 at age 36 in a crash in Paris after the car in which she was traveling with her Egyptian-born boyfriend Dodi Fayed was chased by paparazzi

LOS ANGELES: From the sound of horses’ hooves on the day of Princess Diana’s funeral, to chases by paparazzi when he was a child in the back of a car, Prince Harry is still haunted by the trauma of losing his mother.
Speaking in detail of how he failed to deal with her loss for more than a decade, Harry says in a new TV documentary series that the fear of also losing his wife Meghan was one of the main reasons the couple quit their royal duties and moved to California last year.
“My mother was chased to her death when she was in a relationship with someone who wasn’t white, and now look what’s happened. You’re talking about history repeating itself? They’re not going to stop until she dies,” Harry says in the mental health documentary series “The Me You Can’t See.”
“It’s incredibly triggering to potentially lose another woman in my life,” he added, referring to Meghan. The “Me You Can’t See” series, which Harry produced with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey, is released on Apple TV+ on Friday.
Princess Diana died in 1997 at age 36 in a crash in Paris after the car in which she was traveling with her Egyptian-born boyfriend Dodi Fayed was chased by paparazzi. Harry was 12 years old.
Harry, whose American wife Meghan is bi-racial, spoke of racist reporting in the mainstream British press about his wife, as well as abuse on social media. Meghan has said her experience in Britain drove her to thoughts of suicide when she was pregnant with their first son Archie.
In the documentary, Harry spoke of walking behind Diana’s coffin through the streets of London with his brother William, father Prince Charles and uncle Charles Spencer.
“The thing I remember most was the sound of the horses’ hooves going along the Mall,” he said. “It was like I was outside of my body, just walking along, doing what was expected of me, showing one tenth of the emotion that everyone was showing.”
Years earlier, he recalled sitting in the back of his mother’s car while she, in tears, was pursued by photographers.
“One of the feelings that comes up for me always is the helplessness. Being a guy and being too young to help a woman, in this case your mother, and that happened every single day,” he said.
Harry said he buried his feelings, but drank heavily and suffered panic attacks and anxiety in his 20s, and still freaks out when he sees cameras.
“I was so angry with what happened to her (Diana) and the fact there was no justice at all... the same people that chased her through that tunnel photographed her dying on the back seat of that car,” he said.
“The clicking of cameras, and the flash of cameras makes my blood boil. It makes me angry. It takes me back to what happened to my mum, what I experienced as a kid.”
Even now, at age 36, he said that returning to London makes him feel tense and hunted.
Harry said he started serious therapy almost five years ago, when he met Meghan.
“I quickly established that if this relationship was going to work, I had to deal with my past,” he said. The couple married in May 2018.


Swedish club not skirting around shorts issue as they back Irish camogie players

Updated 10 May 2025
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Swedish club not skirting around shorts issue as they back Irish camogie players

  • The Irish sport hit the headlines this week for all the wrong reasons with players
  • Camogie is the female version of hurling, a ball sport played with wooden sticks

STOCKHOLM: Camogie players in Sweden have turned the clock back by wearing a kit from a bygone age in a show of solidarity with colleagues in Ireland currently protesting for the right to wear shorts.

The Irish sport hit the headlines this week for all the wrong reasons with players, tired of a rule outlawing the wearing of shorts, ramping up protests, ultimately leading to the late postponement of Saturday’s Munster final.

Camogie is the female version of hurling, a ball sport played with wooden sticks, often likened to a mix between lacrosse and hockey, with a little rugby thrown in because of its physicality.

Wherever you go in the world, from Uganda to Vietnam, you are likely to find people playing Ireland’s national sports. Sweden is no different, and Irishwoman Michelle Cotter set up the hurling and camogie teams at Stockholm Gaels.

“The goal was to do something over here to show the players back home that their impact is reaching much further than the island of Ireland,” Cotter told Reuters.

The Camogie Association of Ireland’s rules state that playing gear must include skirt, skort or divided skirt, but a recent survey showed that 83 percent of players want the choice to include shorts.

The Stockholm club, which includes not only Irish players and local Swedes but women from Australia, Austria, the US, Britain, France and Spain, took things back to even before the days of skorts, when players wore skirts down to their ankles.

The first set of camogie rules, drawn up in 1903, stated skirts should be worn no more than six inches from the ground and, while things have improved, two motions to introduce shorts were defeated at last year’s Camogie Association congress.

“Given none of us even own skorts, we togged out for training in skirts and dresses,” Cotter, who also coaches and plays on the team, said. “It felt every bit as ridiculous as it looked.”

There is still hope for change following all the media attention and controversy of the past week, after the association agreed to hold a special congress on May 22 to vote again on a motion to allow the wearing of shorts.


Liam and Olivia dominate — again — with top baby names in the US for a sixth year in a row

Updated 10 May 2025
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Liam and Olivia dominate — again — with top baby names in the US for a sixth year in a row

  • ‘A trend we’re tracking is that Americans are more likely to choose heritage choices’

WASHINGTON: Liam and Olivia dominate. Still.
The two names have, for a sixth year together, topped the list of names for babies born in the US in 2024.
The Social Security Administration annually tracks the names given to girls and boys in each state, with names dating back to 1880. In time for Mother’s Day, the agency on Friday released the most popular names from applications for Social Security cards.
Liam has reigned for eight years in a row for boys, while Olivia has topped the girls’ list for six. Also, for the sixth consecutive year, Emma took the second slot for girls, and Noah for boys.
The girls’ name Luna slipped out of the Top 10 and was replaced by Sofia, which enters at number 10 for the first time.
After Liam, the most common names for boys are, in order: Noah, Oliver, Theodore, James, Henry, Mateo, Elijah, Lucas and William.
After Olivia, the most common names for girls are Emma, Amelia, Charlotte, Mia, Sophia, Isabella, Evelyn, Ava and Sofia.
Sophie Kihm, editor-in-chief of nameberry, a baby naming website, said the latest data showcases how American parents are increasingly choosing names that have cross-cultural appeal. Kihm’s first name shows up in two variations on the annual list.
“A trend we’re tracking is that Americans are more likely to choose heritage choices,” Kihm said, including names that work “no matter where you are in the world.”
”More families in the US come from mixed cultural backgrounds and I hear parents commonly request that they want their child to travel and have a relatively easy to understand name.”
The Social Security Administration’s latest data show that 3.61 million babies were born in the US in 2024. That’s a slight increase from last year’s 3.59 million babies, representing an overall increase in the American birthrate.
Social media stars and popular television shows are having some impact on the rising popularity of certain names, Social Security says.
Among those rising in popularity for girls: Ailany, a Hawaiian name that means “chief,” topped the list. The boys’ name Truce, an Old English name meaning “peace,” rose 11,118 spots from last year’s position to rank 991.
The complete, searchable list of baby names is on the Social Security website.


Sweden’s new national security adviser quits over dating site images

Updated 09 May 2025
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Sweden’s new national security adviser quits over dating site images

  • Thyberg said that he had failed to disclose the existence of the images
  • “I should have informed about this, but I did not,” he said

OSLO: Sweden’s new national security adviser abruptly resigned on Friday, just one day after his appointment, amid criticism from the prime minister that he failed to disclose information regarding images published years ago on a dating website.

Tobias Thyberg, a foreign service veteran who in previous roles served as ambassador to both Ukraine and Afghanistan, had omitted the information during security background checks, the government said.

The resignation comes just months after Thyberg’s predecessor in the high-profile job stepped down and was charged with negligent handling of classified information.
Thyberg did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on Friday.

But in a statement to daily Dagens Nyheter, Thyberg said that he had failed to disclose the existence of the images.
“These are old pictures from an account I previously had on the dating site Grindr. I should have informed about this, but I did not,” he said, according to DN.

Reuters could not independently verify information about the content of the images.

Background checks for sensitive government jobs typically require the disclosure of any information that could potentially make someone vulnerable to blackmail.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the information should have come to light a long time ago.

“It is a systemic failure that this kind of information has not been brought forward,” Kristersson told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Norway.

Thyberg had been due to travel to Oslo on Friday with the prime minister for a meeting of northern European leaders, but the adviser’s participation was canceled.


Two men found guilty of chopping down iconic UK tree

Updated 09 May 2025
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Two men found guilty of chopping down iconic UK tree

  • The tree at Sycamore Gap had stood for nearly 200 years next to Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern England
  • The tree was so striking it featured in the 1991 Hollywood film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves“

LONDON: An English court found two men guilty on Friday of the “deliberate and mindless” felling of one of the UK’s most iconic trees, an incident that sparked national outrage.

A jury at Newcastle Crown Court found former friends Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, guilty of criminal damage for the 2023 felling of the tree at Sycamore Gap.

It had stood for nearly 200 years next to Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northern England. The tree was so striking it featured in the 1991 Hollywood film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

They were convicted after around five hours of deliberation on two counts of criminal damage: to the sycamore and to the Roman wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it.

Reacting to the verdict, the National Trust conservation body said the “needless felling” of the tree had “shocked people around the country and overseas, demonstrating the powerful connection between people and our natural heritage.

“It was felt particularly deeply here in the north east of England where the tree was an emblem of the region and the backdrop to many personal memories,” said a spokesperson.

Prosecutors had told the court that the two men used a chainsaw to cut down the tree. It was, they said, “an act of deliberate and mindless criminal damage,” which they filmed on Graham’s phone and shared with others.

Speaking after the conviction, Northumbria Police’s Kevin Waring said: “We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism, but that term has never been more relevant than today.

“At no point have the two men given an explanation for why they targeted the tree — and there never could be a justifiable one,” he added.

Graham has “been in custody for his own protection after an episode in December,” his lawyer Chris Knox told court on Friday.

The pair drove to the site near Hexham in Graham’s Range Rover and felled the tree on the night of September 27, 2023, slicing through the trunk in “a matter of minutes,” said prosecutor Richard Wright.

“Having completed their moronic mission, the pair got back into the Range Rover and traveled back toward Carlisle” where they lived, he added.

A video of the act recovered from Graham’s phone was shared by the two men with “the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw, and a tree falling,” said Wright.

The next day, in a voice message from Graham to Carruthers, Graham said “it’s gone viral. It is worldwide. It will be on ITV news tonight,” he added.

“They are loving it, they’re revelling in it. This is the reaction of the people that did it. They still think it’s funny, or clever, or big,” said the prosecutor.

Gale Gilchrist, from the Crown Prosecution Service North, said that “in just under three minutes, Graham and Carruthers ended its (the tree’s) historic legacy in a deliberate and mindless act of destruction.

“We hope our community can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted today,” she added.

The pair were jointly charged with causing £622,191 ($832, 821) of criminal damage to the tree and £1,144 of damage to Hadrian’s Wall, an ancient Roman fortification stretching from northwest to northeast England.

The two men have been remanded in custody — Carruthers for his own protection. They will be sentenced on July 15.

The sycamore was a symbol of northeast England and a key attraction photographed by millions of visitors over the years, winning the Woodland Trust’s Tree of the Year in 2016.

Efforts are under way to see if it can be regrown from its stump or seeds.

The National Trust, which owns the wall and the tree, said it has grown 49 saplings from the sycamore’s seeds, which will be planted this winter at sites across the UK.


Rare New Zealand snail is filmed for the first time laying an egg from its neck

Updated 09 May 2025
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Rare New Zealand snail is filmed for the first time laying an egg from its neck

  • The habits of the threatened Powelliphanta augusta snail were once shrouded in mystery
  • The video was taken at a facility on the South Island’s West Coast

WELLINGTON: The strange reproductive habits of a large, carnivorous New Zealand snail were once shrouded in mystery. Now footage of the snail laying an egg from its neck has been captured for the first time, the country’s conservation agency said Wednesday.
What looks like a tiny hen’s egg is seen emerging from an opening below the head of the Powelliphanta augusta snail, a threatened species endemic to New Zealand.
The video was taken at a facility on the South Island’s West Coast, where conservation rangers attempting to save the species from extinction have cared for a population of the snails in chilled containers for nearly two decades.
The conditions in the containers mimic the alpine weather in their only former habitat — a remote mountain they were named for, on the West Coast of the South Island, that has been engulfed by mining.
Observing their habits
Lisa Flanagan from the Department of Conservation, who has worked with the creatures for 12 years, said the species still holds surprises.
“It’s remarkable that in all the time we’ve spent caring for the snails, this is the first time we’ve seen one lay an egg,” she said in a statement.
Like other snails, Powelliphanta augusta are hermaphrodites, which explains how the creatures can reproduce when encased in a hard shell. The invertebrate uses a genital pore on the right side of its body, just below the head, to simultaneously exchange sperm with another snail, which is stored until each creates an egg.
A long but slow reproductive life
Each snail takes eight years to reach sexual maturity, after which it lays about five eggs a year. The egg can take more than a year to hatch.
“Some of our captive snails are between 25 and 30 years old,” said Flanagan. “They’re polar opposites to the pest garden snail we introduced to New Zealand, which is like a weed, with thousands of offspring each year and a short life.”
The dozens of species and subspecies of Powelliphanta snails are only found in New Zealand, mostly in rugged forest and grassland settings where they are threatened by habitat loss.
They are carnivores that slurp up earthworms like noodles, and are some of the world’s largest snails , with oversized, distinctive shells in a range of rich earth colors and swirling patterns.
A political storm
The Powelliphanta augusta was the center of public uproar and legal proceedings in the early 2000s, when an energy company’s plans to mine for coal threatened to destroy the snails’ habitat.
Some 4,000 were removed from the site and relocated, while 2,000 more were housed in chilled storage in the West Coast town of Hokitika to ensure the preservation of the species, which is slow to breed and doesn’t adapt well to new habitats.
In 2011, some 800 of the snails accidentally died in a Department of Conservation refrigerator with faulty temperature control.
But the species’ slow survival continues: In March this year, there were nearly 1,900 snails and nearly 2,200 eggs in captivity, the conservation agency said.