Prince Harry has stressed the need to tackle institutional racism in a speech he recorded for the Diana Awards, a charity for young people set up to honour his late mother.

In a video message shown in the virtual ceremony on Wednesday, the Duke of Sussex said “institutional racism has no place in our societies, yet it is still endemic”.

“My wife said recently that our generation and the ones before us haven’t done enough to right the wrongs of the past,” he said.

“I, too, am sorry – sorry that we haven’t got the world to the place that you deserve it to be.”

The speech came on what would have been the 59th birthday of Princess Diana. She died in a Paris car crash in 1997, when Harry was 12.

Harry paid tribute to young people being recognised at the ceremony for their work on race and injustice, saying he saw the “greatest hope” in them amid the division and anger in the world.

Harry has accused the media of harassing his wife, Meghan Markle, and has criticised “racial undertones” in some coverage of her. Meghan’s mother is black and her father is white.

In June, Meghan gave a speech to students at her old high school in Los Angeles following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex live in Los Angeles with their son, Archie, after they quit as senior working royals earlier in 2020.