On August 13, 1997, the whole world wept and grieved the loss of their dearly beloved Princess Diana, but no one was hurting more than her children, 15-year-old Prince William and 12-year-old Prince Harry.
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For the younger prince, the pain of losing his mother followed him into adulthood and took a large toll on his emotional health. He still carries anger about what had happened to her, and “the fact that there was no justice at all.”
“Nothing came from that,” he said. “The same people that chased her into the tunnel photographed her dying on the backseat of that car.”
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Aware that thinking about her only made him sad, the royal prince stuck his “head in the sand” for years and said he was “fine” whenever anyone asked how he was doing because it was “the easy answer”. But it was far from the truth.
Harry revealed that he was “all over the place mentally” and suffered multiple panic attacks. Even getting into a car or seeing a camera flash would trigger him into “freaking out”.
He explained,
“I would feel as though my body temperature was two or three degrees warmer than everybody else in the room. I would convince myself that my face was bright red, and therefore, everybody could see how I was feeling but no one would know why. So, it was embarrassing.”
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He went on to say,
“Everywhere I go, every single time I meet someone, it’s almost like I’m being drained of this energy. Picking up on other people’s emotions.”
In order to numb these feelings, he resorted to self-medicate his pain away.
“I was willing to drink. I was willing to take drugs,” he confessed. “I was willing to try and do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling.”
But at that time, he didn’t realise that he was doing all that just to escape his inner turmoil.
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“It was my brain telling me that I’m in a fight,” he said. “I never knew that. Why would I know that?”
Four years ago, the duke began therapy to “heal” himself from the past and stepped back from royal life with Meghan Markle last year. “The only way to free yourself and break out,” he said, “is to tell the truth.”
If you or anyone you know are in need of emotional support, please do not hesitate to call Befrienders at 03-76272929.
*Cover image via Koen Van Weel
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