Prince Harry emotionally recalls shaking the 'wet hands' of mourners at Diana's funeral

Prince Harry has emotionally recalled being unable to understand why mourners' hands were wet following his mother's death.

In a clip from Harry: The Interview, which will be broadcast at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX on Sunday, the Duke of Sussex speaks about his memories of meeting people following the death of Princess Diana in 1997 when he was 12 years old.

Harry also says that he cried once in the wake of his mother's death - at her burial.

"Everyone knows where they were and what they were doing the night my mother died," he tells presenter Tom Bradby.

"I cried once, at the burial, and you know I go into detail about how strange it was and how actually there was some guilt that I felt, and I think William felt as well, by walking around the outside of Kensington Palace."

A clip from Harry: The Interview, which will be broadcast at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX on Sunday (PA)

Harry described feeling the mourners' tears on their hands when he shook them.

"There were 50,000 bouquets of flowers to our mother and there we were shaking people's hands, smiling," he says.

"I've seen the videos, right, I looked back over it all. And the wet hands that we were shaking, we couldn't understand why their hands were wet, but it was all the tears that they were wiping away."

The young princes walk with their father, uncle and grandfather behind their mother's coffin (PA)

He adds he and William were unable to show any emotion as they met the mourners.

He explained: "Everyone thought and felt like they knew our mum, and the two closest people to her, the two most loved people by her, were unable to show any emotion in that moment."

The prince has been vocal over the years with his criticism for the decision to have him and William follow the coffin at his mother's funeral.

The brothers inspect the flowers left by devastated members of the public (Getty Images)

Harry with his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1995 (PA)

The young royals walked with The Duke of Edinburgh, The Earl Spencer and The Prince of Wales in front of over a million people who lined the procession route in London.

It is said that the pair were encouraged to follow the coffin by their grandfather Prince Philip who reportedly told them: "I’ll walk if you walk."

Prince Harry discussed the walk with royal biographer, Angela Levin for her book ‘Harry: Conversations with the Prince'.

He told her: “My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television.”