The pair spoke for nearly 10 minutes on the descent and the prince asked about her children – Emily, 6, Lachlan, 3, and stepson Tom, 19 – and how the family was coping.
“Lachlan is the spitting image of my husband. Harry said something like the children must remind you of him, or live on in him. And I said my son is so much like him,” Cherne, who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, tells PEOPLE. “It was comfortable and thoughtful.”
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Cherne says Harry – who lost his mother, Princess Diana, when he was just 12 – and her spoke about “grief and loss.”
“He understood what I meant. When you understand loss, I think it’s obvious,” she explained. “He did ask me if I was getting the support I need from the Defense and ex-servicemen and veteran community.” She works closely with U.S.-basedTragedy Assistance Program for Survivorsand talked to Harry about their partnership with the U.K.’sDiana Award.
Harry, who is touring Australia withpregnant wifeMeghan Markle, 37, was on the bridge to help herald the start of his Paralympic-style contest for wounded, sick and injured servicemen and women and veterans, which starts in Sydney this weekend.
As the 34-year-old prince’s entourage tried to move them along from the outing, Harry wanted to ensure they had enough time to talk.
Harry “asked quite a few questions about my story, so he had it correct in his head,” she says.
Cherne met Peter – known as Pete – when she was working in development in Afghanistan in 2008. He re-enlisted in the Australian army in 2010, joining the special forces, second commando regiment, in 2012. She moved to Australia, giving birth to Emily while he was on deployment to Afghanistan in 2012.
Then four years later, while deployed in Iraq in first half of 2016 he suffered a stroke.
“He had shown signs of PTSD, anxiety and paranoia during our entire relationship. But after the stroke his cognition was not improving as quickly as he would have liked it to. The only sign was that he wasn’t processing things as quickly, and he had a small black spot in his eyesight,” she explains.
source: people.com
