From the Archive: Prince Harry's Visit to Mildmay in Hello! Magazine, 2016

While sorting through our archives this week, we came across a touching article from Hello! Magazine, dating back to January 2016, titled “Prince Harry Carries on Mum’s Work.”

It brought back fond institutional memories of the Prince’s visit to Mildmay in December 2015, when he officially opened our newly redeveloped hospital.

Hello! Magazine article from January 2016. Click to enlarge.

Prince Harry holds hands with a patient.

In the article, Prince Harry is described embracing patients and reflecting on the legacy of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Like his mother, who famously challenged the stigma surrounding HIV, Prince Harry showed extraordinary warmth and compassion to our patients and staff.

Harry signs our visitors' book in front of the signed portrait of his mother.

One moment that stands out from the article recalls how Harry met a patient who had sat on Princess Diana’s lap as a young child. Now an adult, she shared her memory with him, and Harry replied, “I remember that too.” It was a beautiful, full-circle moment — one that perfectly captured the emotional significance of his visit.

The Prince was also presented with a framed photo of Princess Diana comforting a patient named Martin in 1989. That image, and the story behind it, remains one of the most powerful illustrations of how kindness and compassion can change lives.

One of a famous group of photographs of Diana meeting Martin in 1989.

As the article says, Diana changed attitudes to HIV/AIDS when she met, shook hands with and embraced Martin, a patient at Mildmay. It was a privilege to welcome Prince Harry to Mildmay and to have been part of such a meaningful continuation of Princess Diana’s legacy.