Prince Harry says he "never really dealt" with his mother’s death.
Princess Diana was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997 and her youngest son admitted that he buried his feelings about the tragedy for a long time.
Speaking in the ITV documentary, ‘Prince Harry In Africa’, to mark the 10th anniversary of the charity Sentebale which he founded in memory of his mother, Harry, 32, said: "I never really dealt with what had happened. It was a lot of buried emotion. For a huge part of my life I didn’t really want to think about it.
"I now view life very differently from what it used to be. I used to bury my head in the sand, and let everything around you tear you to pieces.
"And now for me, I can see exactly where I want to take it. The fact that I’ve managed to keep Sentebale going … for the last 10/11 years has been fantastic because now everything else I’m involved with makes sense to me and I’m just getting started.
"What started as an idea of me turning round and saying, right, I’ve got a year off, I want to do something really constructive with my life, want to do something that makes my mother proud.
"Someone said, right, go to Lesotho, it’s like where the hell is that? Now I can see exactly where I want to take it. I have huge amounts of passion for the causes and interests and charities I’m involved with."
Harry – who is currently dating ‘Suits’ actress Meghan Markle – also insisted that he wants to "make something of my life" and help those less fortunate than him.
He said: "I need to make something of my life … I was fighting the system, going, ‘I don’t want to be this person’. My mother died when I was very, very young and I don’t want to be in the position. Now I’m so energised, fired up, to be lucky enough to be in a position to make a difference."