Prince Harry praises father Charles for how he dealt with Princess Diana's death in BBC documentary

Prince Harry has praised Prince Charles for how he dealt with the death of his mother, Princess Diana, saying in a new BBC documentary that he was a great source of support for his sons.

The prince paid tribute to his father in the new BBC documentary, Diana, 7 Days, saying he was there for him and William when the two boys most needed him.

He told the BBC: 'One of the hardest things for a parent to have to do is to tell your children that your other parent has died. How you deal with that I don't know but, you know, he was there for us.

'He was the one out of two left, and he tried to do his best and to make sure that we were protected and looked after. But he was going through the same grieving process as well.'

His brother William also defended their grandmother, who at the time was criticised for not returning to London with them quickly enough after the news that Diana had died in a car accident broke.

'At the time, my grandmother wanted to protect her two grandsons and my father as well. Our grandmother deliberately removed the newspapers and things like that so there was nothing in the house to read', William recalled.

Image: BBC Pictures

William and Harry were only 15 and 12 years old respectively when Diana passed away

'We didn't know what was going on. Back then there were no smartphones and things like that, so you couldn't get your news. Thankfully, we had the privacy to mourn and to try to collect our thoughts and have that space away from everybody. We had no idea the reaction to her death would be quite so huge.'

William added that the Queen 'felt very torn between being the grandmother to William and Harry and her Queen role, and I think everyone was taken aback of what happened and the speed it happened'.

Speaking in the same documentary, Harry also heavily criticised paparazzi who chased Diana into the tunnel where her car crashed and then photographed her while she was injured inside the vehicle.

'One of the hardest things to come to terms with is the fact that the people that chased her into the tunnel were the same people that were taking photographs of her while she was still dying on the back seat of the car', Harry said.

'I mean a pack, like a pack of dogs, followed her, chased her, harassed her, called her names, spat at her, tried to get a reaction to get that photograph of her lashing out, get her upset,' William echoed of the Diana's relationship with the paparazzi in general.

Image: BBC Pictures

Harry now says he's glad to have been part of Diana's funeral, despite previously saying no child should be made to

Despite previously lamenting the fact that he was made to walk behind his mother's coffin during the funeral, Harry has now said he doesn't 'have an opinion whether that was right or wrong', but he's glad to have been part of the final goodbye to Diana.

William also spoke of the heartbreaking day when they had to lay Diana to rest, saying he used his fringe to as a 'safety blanket' during the 'very long, lonely walk'.

Image: BBC Pictures

William opened up about his mother's death for BBC documentary Diana, 7 days

'I felt if I looked at the floor and my hair came down over my face, no-one could see me', the father-of-two said. 'It wasn't an easy decision and it was a sort of collective family decision to do that... there is that balance between duty and family and that's what we had to do.'

He added that the balance was 'between me being Prince William and having to do my bit, versus the private William who just wanted to go into a room and cry, who'd lost his mother'.

Diana, 7 Days airs on BBC One at 7:30pm on Sunday 27 August