A touching moment between Princess Diana and Prince Harry has gone viral as footage from the royal's 1984 christening has resurfaced on social media site, TikTok.
The prince will celebrate his 40th birthday this year on September 15, and since his split from the monarchy in 2020, he has opened up in a number of media collaborations and projects about his relationship with his mother.
Diana's tragic death at the age of 36 following a Paris car crash took place when Harry was 12 years old and in his memoir, Spare, released in 2023 the prince detailed his grief and denial of her loss.
Uploaded to TikTok by user, princess__jo, on July 26, footage of Diana's gentle interactions with her infant son at his christening ceremony has gained over 350,000 views on the video-sharing platform.
Harry was christened at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on December 21, 1984. A number of senior royals were in attendance including Queen Elizabeth II and her mother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
Harry's godparents were: His uncle Prince Andrew; Princess Margaret's daughter Lady Sarah Chatto; Princess Diana's old roommate Carolyn Bartholomew; the artist Bryan Organ; Prince Charles' friend Gerald Ward; and Queen Elizabeth II's friend, Lady Celia Vestey.
In the viral footage, Princess Diana is seen dressed in a blue outfit with her son in her arms, wiping his chin and calling for his cousins Peter and Zara Phillips (Princess Anne's children) to come and see him.
A voice-over from the footage originally broadcast by British new channels described the scene, saying: "Mother knelt on the carpet to show the baby to the children, but by now a tearful Prince Harry had had enough."
The clip has received in excess of 30,000 likes and over 140 comments, many of which have praised the royals.
"A beautiful clip always in our hearts," wrote one user.
"The best mother," posted another, with a further user reflecting on the similarities between Harry and his own son: "Prince Archie looks just like his dad, when he was a baby."
In 2016, Prince William and Harry both responded to footage from the 1984 christening as part of a documentary looking at home movies shot during Queen Elizabeth's lifetime to mark her 90th birthday.
"Mummy looks great in blue," Harry told his brother, before expressing doubt over the historic christening gown he was photographed in. "Still not convinced about the dress that I'm in!" he said.
The christening gown was made in 1841 for the ceremony of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's eldest child, Princess Victoria (later the empress of Germany).
The gown was made using English lace and was used by generations of royal children up until the early 2000s where it was deemed too fragile to continue being worn.
An exact copy was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II in 2008 and was first used at the christening of her youngest grandson, James the Earl of Wessex. The gown has been used by successive royals including for the christenings of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, in addition to Prince Harry's eldest child, Prince Archie.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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