Kate Beckinsale says she can relate to Prince William and Prince Harry, because she lost her father at a young age.

Kate Beckinsale

Kate Beckinsale

The 47-year-old actress was just five when her father, actor Richard Beckinsale, passed away and she remembers feeling empathy for William and Harry, who were 15 and 12 respectively, when their mother, Princess Diana, died in a car crash in 1997.

Speaking on Dax Shepard‘s 'Armchair Expert' podcast - which Harry was previously a guest on - Kate said: "I remember when their mother died, I was in New York, and seeing them in the context of other people sort of grieving for somebody they didn’t know … I thought, ‘Oh my God, I really know what that feels like'.

"A cataclysmic event like that puts everything into a real sharp focus.

“It was hard at the very, very beginning because it did feel like you were having this very personal, horrible crisis — and so was everybody else, but you didn’t know them.

“People would talk about how terrible they felt that they had lost him, but then say, ‘Oh, but you probably don’t remember anything, do you, because you were a child.’ That would really upset me as a child. I found that really difficult.

“But then the person you’re sharing it with is saying, ‘You have less right to this than I do,’ which is really odd. I found that, as I’m older, I’m less offended by it. There is something incredibly special and comforting about how much other people loved him, that, sort of the longer it goes on, [it's] lovely."

Meanwhile, Kate's close friend Sarah Silverman, previously revealed that she urged Kate to date Prince Harry, 36, before he met his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, 39.

Sarah quipped to Us Weekly magazine: "I remember when Prince Harry was single, like, I would live vicariously through [Kate] and be like, 'Oh, my God, date Prince Harry!' ... because, like, she could! Now she couldn't, but, like you know, she's so beautiful and beyond that, just a really big brain."

The duo also joked about Sarah's comments on social media, with Kate telling the actress: "You are such an a**. Also I love how he's looking at us both like who are these b******, get them away from me."

Sarah then joked back: "HAHAHAHA remember when he was single and I decided you must date him because of my vicarious life through you? (sic)"

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