‘We need to do this’: Prince Harry has very different memories of meeting ‘A-list entertainer’ Diddy as past comments haunt him

Nobody wants to be linked to Sean “Diddy” Combs right now. The mogul is now behind bars and awaiting trial after being indicted on sex trafficking charges — among many others — this September. Unfortunately for the world of the rich and famous, Diddy has hung out with countless celebrities over his long career, so many of his past interactions with other major names have resurfaced in the wake of his shocking crimes coming to light. That includes even royalty, like Prince Harry.

While some celebs may be seriously regretting their past associations with Combs, like former BFF Ashton Kutcher, and others are finding their reputations improved by their innocence, as with Justin Bieber, the Duke of Sussex’s case is a curious one. In an unearthed interview from 2011, Diddy himself confirmed that he tried to coax both Harry and his older brother Prince William to attend one of his infamous, and illegal, “freak-off parties.”

This opened the door to unwanted speculation that the princes were involved with Diddy in some way, but it should be stressed that they are known to have only crossed paths with Combs on a single occasion. And Harry’s recollections of that encounter differ somewhat from Diddy’s.

Prince Harry has already said all he’s going to say about Diddy

Harry actually wrote about the night he met Diddy in his 2023 memoir Spare — it was July 1, 2007, when he and William hosted a memorial concert for their mother, Princess Diana, at London’s Wembley Stadium. In his 2011 appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Combs implied he became fast friends with the princes, but he doesn’t seem to have made a big impression on Harry.

In fact, Diddy warrants only a single mention in Spare, as Harry recaps how he and big bro “Willy” approached organizing this emotional occasion in a business-like manner.

“While planning the concert Willy and I were emotionless. All business,” Harry wrote. “It’s the anniversary, we need to do this, there are a million details, full stop. The venue had to be big enough (Wembley Stadium) and the tickets had to be priced right (forty-five pounds) and the entertainers had to be A-list (Elton John, Duran Duran, P. Diddy).”

For the duke, it seems the most notable part of the evening occurred when he and Willy William had to make an appearance on stage, and they found themselves experiencing possibly the worst case of stage fright of their lives.

“As the song ended, Elton jumped up, introduced us. Their Royal Highnesses, Prince William and Prince Harry! The applause was deafening, like nothing we’d ever heard,” Harry continued. “We’d been applauded in the streets, at polo games, parades, operas, but never in a place this cavernous, or in a context this charged. Willy walked out, I followed, each of us wearing a blazer and open shirt, as if going to a school dance. We were both frightfully nervous.”

Although somewhat raised in the spotlight from birth, the princes were left “paralyzed” under so much, global, attention:

“On any topic, but especially on the topic of Mummy, we weren’t accustomed to public speaking. (In fact, we weren’t accustomed to private speaking about her.) But standing before 65,000 people, and another 500 million watching live in 140 countries, we were paralyzed.”

As intimidating as their time on stage was, it’s a lot more preferable than the eyes of the whole internet being on Harry if he did have some glowing things to say about Diddy. The duke is likely thankful that he didn’t write at length about his brief brush with the singer. That said, photo evidence does show both brothers looking pretty pally with Diddy and Kanye West at the event. Even so, it’s clear that the boys were too sensible to accept an invite to one of Combs’ freak-offs back then, and therefore spared themselves a lot of bad press in the present.