Prince Harry recalls watching ‘nightmare’ 9/11 attack unfold at age 16 with ‘stunned’ pals
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Prince Harry recalled the horrifying moment he watched the 9/11 attacks as a teenager, and how he demanded to visit Ground Zero to meet the families of the victims during his official trip to the United States eight years later.
The Duke of Sussex, who was 16 at the time, was surrounded by his ‘shocked and silent’ classmates when he saw the devastating attacks on the Twin Towers, he revealed in his memoir ‘Spare’.
Harry was still a student at Eton College and said that just after lunch every day he went to the TV room at his boarding house to watch Neighbours, an Australian sitcom.
But on 9/11, he unknowingly walked into the room to find it full of classmates all staring at the TV.
Prince Harry pictured at the World Trade Center on May 29, 2009 as he paid his respects to those who died on 9/11. This was his first official royal trip to the US, and he demanded that the site visit be included in his itinerary.
The young Prince, who was 25 years old at the time, paid his respects at Ground Zero. Construction of the monument was just underway when he first visited
Prince Harry, pictured in his Eton College uniform in 2003, recalled learning about the 9/11 attacks while at school. He watched the news among his classmates, who were stunned into silence at the horrible world event unfolding.
They were watching the tragic news, which the teenaged Prince Harry described as “a nightmare” once he realized what was unfolding in front of him.
He said he caught a glimpse of the burning buildings when he asked another boy next to him what had happened.
Prince Harry recalled watching the chaos unfold – he watched the Twin Towers ‘melt’ and people ‘jump off rooftops’ on screen, while the room at Eton became increasingly filled with small children biting each other’s teeth. lips and nails in shock.
The duke said he and his companions were “shocked and silent” as they watched the painful reporting on the television screen.
Harry also said that he was sent on his first official trip to the US years later, in 2009, where he made sure that visiting the World Trade Center was on his itinerary.
And he said he has never forgotten to meet the “parents, spouses and children” of the victims during his trip to New York. They were ‘clinging to photos of mothers and fathers who had been crushed, vaporized or burned alive’.
He wrote in Spare: ‘I wanted to visit wounded soldiers and leave a wreath at the World Trade Center.
‘September 11 was abominable and indelible… the most heinous crimes in world history.’
Prince Harry meets Monica Iken, who lost her husband in the World Trade Center attacks
Harry met with members of the FDNY at Ground Zero in 2009
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle paid their respects in a wreath by the surviving tree at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in September 2021, marking the 20th anniversary of the attacks.
Harry, photographed relaxing in his doorstep room in 2003, said he remembers the moment he realized what had happened at the World Trade Center. He was only 16 years old at the time and had just finished eating lunch at school.
Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, would go on sale on January 10, but it was already on sale in Spanish bookstores on January 4.
His two-day visit to New York City in 2009 began with a visit to Ground Zero, where he bowed his head and observed a minute’s silence after laying a wreath near the site.
He was then taken on a brief tour of the construction site before meeting firefighters from a nearby station who were involved in the rescue attempt.
It read: ‘In respectful memory of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, and in admiration of the courage displayed by the people of this great city on that day.’
At that time, the construction of the memorial site was just underway.
Harry arrived at the World Trade Center site in midtown Manhattan in glorious sunshine, dressed in a dark blue suit and maroon striped tie.
In 2009, Prince Harry left the crown at the site, with a handwritten note reading: “In respectful memory of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, and in admiration of the courage shown by the people of this big city that day’
Pictured: Eton College, one of the most prestigious boarding schools in England, UK. Both Prince Harry and William attended the school during their teenage years.
At the time, reports said that the young royal looked up, apparently taking in the enormity of the structures toppled in the attack, and said simply, ‘Wow.’
He then met with then New York State Governor David Paterson and briefly thanked him for inviting him, before meeting with the families of 9/11 victims.
Prince Harry, who was 25 at the time, insisted there were no special arrangements for his trip: take a commercial flight to New York.
In 2021, Harry returned to the World Trade Center to pay his respects on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy, this time with his wife, Meghan Markle.
The couple, who had stepped down from their Royal Family duties at this point, both wore black as they laid a wreath and took a moment to pay their respects to those who died on 9/11.
Prince Harry and his school friends were watching the tragic news, which the teenage royal described as “a nightmare” once he realized what was unfolding in front of him.
The couple held a moment of silence at the wreath laying at the Twin Towers site during their trip to the Big Apple in September 2021.
Harry and Meghan were shown the South Tower pool moments after visiting the adjoining North Tower memorial pool. Pictured: September 2021