In 2019, former gay Welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas publicly disclosed his HIV status after tabloid newspapers threatened to out him.  A BBC documentary, Gareth Thomas: HIV and Me, aired shortly afterwards. Thomas had  timed the announcement to coincide with his taking part in an Ironman triathlon. It was a carefully orchestrated media campaign to drive home a very simple message: HIV didn’t weaken him. He was in control. His life was not over.

Now in National HIV Testing Week in the UK. To mark the occasion, Thomas had a 30-minute video chat with Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. With host Craig Doyle they talk about how Gareth lives with the virus, how others have treated him, and the stigma around HIV. Gareth and Craig will be joined by others from the world of sport to delve into how they have tackled stigma, racism, homophobia and misunderstanding in their own lives.

In the interview, Prince Harry described himself as “a typical guy” who just wants to “fix things”, and said he feels an “obligation” to try to continue his late mother’s bid to remove the stigma surrounding the virus. His mother the late Princess Diana, famously visited AIDS wards in the 1980s and made headlines for holding the hands of gay men who were ill with the virus. At the time, this simple gesture helped tackle some of the stigma faced by those living with HIV.

He added “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.””