Prince Harry has promised to continue his late mother Princess Diana's "unfinished work" in the fight against HIV.
Harry, speaking from California, joined his friend ex-Wales rugby captain, Gareth Thomas, for an in-depth 30-minute video call to mark National HIV Testing Week.
In the call, he described himself as “a typical guy” who just wants to “fix things”, and said he feels an “obligation” to try to continue Diana's bid to remove the stigma surrounding the illness.
The call kicked off with Harry and Gareth greeting each other with the phrase “Hello bud. How you doing?”, with the prince later joking that the former sportsman was “way older” than him.
Gareth chuckled and responded by flexing one of his tattooed biceps and telling Harry: “I’ve got bigger guns than you, bud,” prompting Harry to laugh and mimic him by saying, “Oh, bigger guns”.
Asked what made him so passionate about advocating for HIV, Harry said: “Once you get to meet people and you see the suffering around the world, I certainly can’t turn my back on that.
“Then add in the fact that my mum’s work was unfinished, I feel obligated to try and continue that as much as possible.
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“I could never fill her shoes, especially in this particular space, but because of what she did and what she stood for and how vocal she was about this issue… it’s a converging of all these different pieces.
“There’s a way out of it, and if there’s a way out of it and we know there’s a solution, I’m like a typical guy. I just want to help fix things.”
Diana, who died following a car crash in 1997, changed the global perception of HIV and Aids, raising awareness of the condition and supporting hospices.
In the late 1980s, when many still believed the disease could be contracted through casual contact, she sat by the sickbed of a man with Aids and held his hand.
Harry described how the virus used to be a death sentence, but was now a “manageable disease”.
He praised his mother’s empathy and curiosity, and said: “What my mum did and so many other people did at that time was to smash that wall down, and kick the door open and say, ‘No, when people are suffering, then we need to learn more’.
“I’ve seen a huge change. People are able and happy to talk about HIV so much more openly, but the stigma still exists and therefore the testing is still a problem.”
Former Wales full-back Gareth, who revealed he was HIV positive in 2019, said: “It wouldn’t be scary if you understood what living with HIV in 2022 is.”
Sharing his daily medical routine with Harry, he said: “At 6am, every single day, my alarm goes off.
“I take my HIV medication which is one tablet, and I feel that my day then begins.”
Gareth, who came out as the first openly gay rugby union player in 2009, said it was a daunting experience to walk into a sexual health clinic, but he said it was so much easier to test now, in the privacy of your own home, or at drop-in clinics where there are people to talk to.
He added: “The sooner you find out if you’re positive then the sooner you can start treatment. If you leave it too late, then it can have circumstances that are irreplaceable, irreparable.”
Tackle HIV, a campaign led by Gareth Thomas in partnership with ViiV Healthcare and the Terrence Higgins Trust, aims to tackle stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. More information can be found at www.tacklehiv.org or by following @tacklehiv.
