Britain’s Prince Harry was reduced to tears while meeting Brazilian orphans.
The royal revealed during a reception honouring Queen Elizabeth in Sao Paulo last night (25.06.14) that he couldn’t hide his emotions when he visited Acer, the Association for Support of Children at Risk, and spoke to disadvantaged youngsters who had lost parents to drugs, violence or prison.
According to the Daily Telegraph, he said: "I was completely overwhelmed and shocked. I’ve never blubbed in public as far as I can remember but I was pretty damn close. It was amazing to hear those stories.
"It seems ridiculous for me to say to these kids how lucky and fortunate they are considering their situation. Obviously they are far from that. But I am only too aware by listening to their stories how many other kids there are like this that aren’t as fortunate as them."
Harry also explained how meeting the children brought back memories of losing his own mother, Princess Diana, aged just 12, and he was especially touched by the story of two sisters who were being cared for by their grandmother because drug-dealing father was in jail and their mother had been murdered.
His voice wavering, the 29-year-old royal recalled: "There are two little girls – I’m quite emotional – just looking at them I wanted to talk about my own experiences. But there is no point because it is just so far removed. The bravery of them looking at me, smiling at me …
"I wanted to use my own experiences in a very small way to try to give them a bit of understanding about the fact that I see what you’re going through. But you hear the stories and think that’s nothing to what they have been through."
Acer was set up by Jonathan Hannay to help underprivileged children in Diadema, Sao Paulo.
Prince Harry almost ‘blubbed’ meeting Brazilian orphans
