01 July 2020

Harry’s words at The Diana Awards ceremony

01 July 2020

Here is the transcript of the Duke of Sussex’s speech at The Diana Awards ceremony:

“Hi everyone. I hope you’re all safe and well, wherever you are in the world and that you’re looking out for each other, which I have no doubt you are. I am so incredibly proud to be part of these awards as they honour the legacy of my mother and bring out the very best in people like you.

“You are all doing such incredible work and at a time of great uncertainty, you have found the power and inspiration inside of you, to make a positive mark on the world, and I love that The Diana Award is able to help you do it.

“I know that my mother has been an inspiration to many of you and I can assure you she would have been fighting your corner.

“Like many of you, she never took the easy route, or the popular one, or the comfortable one, but she stood for something and she stood up for people who needed it.

“Right now we’re seeing situations around the world where division, isolation and anger are dominating as pain and trauma come to the surface. But I see the greatest hope in people like you and I’m confident about the world’s future and its ability to heal because it is in your hands.

“My wife said recently that our generation and the ones before us haven’t done enough to right the wrongs of the past.

“I too, am sorry. Sorry that we haven’t got the world to the place that you deserve it to be.

“Institutional racism has no place in our societies, yet it is still endemic.

“Unconscious bias must be acknowledged without blame, to create a better world for all of you.

“I want you to know that we are committed to being part of the solution and to being part of the change you are all leading.

“Now is the time and we know that you can do it.”

“People like Nasra, James, Demetri and Jhemar, Shanea and Marvel, you are six young people that my brother and I are proud to specifically recognise tonight, and it is your voice that is far more important than mine.

“So, with that, I want to share the mic, and hand over my platform to one of those six. Take it away James.”

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