Princess Diana’s youngest son Prince Harry smashed the barriers of royal protocol when he shared his experience of how he coped with the grief following his mum’s untimely passing.
Those closest to the 32-year-old are crediting candor to girlfriend Meghan Markle
Friends of Harry have remarked that the Suits star encouraged her partner to share his dealings with mental health.
Last week the Prince publicly addressed that he needed counselling two years after the “chaos” caused from Diana’s death.
“Meghan encouraged Harry to see that, by speaking publicly about his difficult experience, he would really help others.”
The royal chatted to Bryony Gordon for the podcast Mad World, when he said, “I’ve spent most of my life saying ‘I’m fine’ … and most of us aren’t up for going that deep.”
“So today I’m OK. I’m a little bit nervous. I’m a little bit tight in the chest but otherwise fine.”
Harry explained that losing his mother on such a “public platform” affected his not only his personal and public lives, but also his mental health.
“I can safely say that losing my mom at the age of 12 and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years has had quite a serious effect on not only my personal life but also my work as well.”
After speaking to a counsellor several times, Harry is in a “good place.”
Friends told Closer magazine that the royal’s comments were urged by his partner.
“Harry feels for Meghan partly because she’s so open, and has that American attitude of saying, ‘Let’s talk about our feelings.’ He comes from such a stiff-upper-lip culture, but Meghan helped him open up.”
“Meghan encouraged Harry to see that, by speaking publicly about his difficult experience, he would really help others, and how being honest might even be a relief. No other woman has helped Harry so much emotionally.”
The former military man has also championed the fight to normalise mental health, with the help of his charity Heads Together.
The organisation, founded by the royal trio, aims to “help people feel much more comfortable with their everyday mental well being and have the practical tools to support their friends and family.”
Harry admits he didn’t deal with Diana’s death until his late twenties.
It no doubt helps that Harry has such great support within his inner circle.
During the official opening of The Global Academy, a supporter of the royal’s charity, Harry was questioned about his romance.
A reported asked, “You seem in a really good place at the moment, you seem very focused on what you want to do, but you also seem to be very happy. Is that partly to do with having a lady in your life?”
Skillfully maneuvering his answer, Harry replied, “I think, I think the point that we’ve learnt over this campaign is that if you talk, if you’re able and comfortable enough to be able to talk about certain issues, certain experiences, then you come out of it a far better person.”
“But you’re in a good place at the moment?” the reporter asked again, to which the royal replied, “Yeah, of course, I’m in a good place, we’re all in a good place and we want the UK to be in a good place as well.”
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