What perfume did Diana wear? Prince Harry details how fragrance helped in grief therapy in Spare

Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, has been in the limelight ever since it was announced. Its release on January 10, 2023, saw several revelations about the royal family and Prince Harry’s life. One of them was how Princess Diana’s favorite fragrance became special for the Duke of Sussex at the time of therapy.

In the book, Harry stated he used to bring his mother’s “favorite” perfume to a therapy session while processing his grief following her untimely death. He said:

“At the start of our session, I lifted the lid, took a deep sniff. Like a tab of LSD. I read somewhere that smell is our oldest sense, and that fitted with what I experienced in that moment, images rising from what felt like the most primal part of my brain.”

He also revealed that the perfume he was talking about was First by Van Cleef & Arpels, which is the perfume Princess Diana wore. The scent, which can be purchased for $125, has key notes of hyacinth, rose, jasmine, amber, and sandalwood.

Prince Harry was only 12 years old when his mother, Princess Diana, passed away in a car crash. The unfortunate incident occurred on 31 August 1997.

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Prince Harry says his therapist urged him to “reflect” on what he remembered about his mother

As Harry’s new memoir, Spare, was released, with it came many revelations about Harry’s life and the royal family. Amongst these revelations was the mention of the death of Harry’s mother, Diana. He candidly spoke about his feelings of grief after his mother passed away in a car crash at the age of 36.

In the book, he talked about how the therapist at the time asked him to remember everything about his mother, and then reflect on it. At the same time, he briefly explained how smelling her favorite perfume helped him immensely.

Besides mentioning how it helped him cope with grief, he also described some memories that came back to him after smelling her perfume.

He said:

“I remember one day at Ludgrove, Mummy stuffing sweets into my sock. Outside sweets were forbidden, so Mummy was flouting school rules, giggling as she did so, which made me love her even more.”

Furthermore, explaining how much his mother’s death impacted him, Prince Harry explained that he’s had a “wall” that made it difficult to heal from his mother’s death.

However, he is now able to “see over it.” At the same time, he talked more about scents and also mentioned that he remembers his father’s scent too, from the night before Diana’s death. The Duke of Sussex said:

“He was always sniffing things. Food, roses, our hair. He must’ve been a bloodhound in another life. Maybe he took all of those sniffs because it was hard to smell anything over his personal scent. Eau Sauvage.”

Additionally, Harry also talked about how his father’s cologne made him think of Diana. He stated:

“He’d slather the stuff on his cheeks, his neck, his shirt. Flowery, with a hint of something harsh, like pepper or gunpowder, it was made in Paris. Said on the bottle. Which made me think of Mummy.”

Besides the grief over his mom’s death, Prince Harry also made revelations about how Meghan Markle, his wife, was treated, and how the two brothers had bitter quarrels. He also spoke about the time he served in the military and ended up killing 25 Talibani fighters.