Prince Harry has accused his family of “total neglect” over his wife Megan Markle’s mental health struggles during a new interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The Duke of Sussex opens up about his and his wife’s mental wellbeing in the Apple TV documentary series, The Me You Can’t See.
In the doc, Harry claims that his requests for help were ignored by the royal family when his wife was struggling while she was pregnant with their son Archie.
“I thought my family would help, but every single ask, request, warning, whatever it is, just got met with total silence, total neglect,” he said.
The Duke said that what stopped his wife from giving into suicidal thoughts was how “unfair” it would be to him.
“The thing that stopped her from seeing it through was how unfair it would be on me after everything that had happened to my mum and to now be put in a position of losing another woman in my life, with a baby inside of her, our baby,” he said.
“The scariest thing for her was her clarity of thought. She hadn’t ‘lost it.’ … She was completely sane. Yet in the quiet of night, these thoughts woke her up.”
Harry also claims Prince Charles did nothing to help his own “suffering” when he was struggling following the death of Princess Diana.
“My father used to say to me when I was younger, he used to say to both William and I, ‘Well, it was like that for me so it’s going to be like that for you’, Harry told Oprah in the doc.
“That doesn’t make sense. Just because you suffered, that doesn’t mean your kids have to suffer. Actually quite the opposite,” he said.
“If you suffered, do everything you can to make sure that whatever negative experiences you had, you can make it right for your kids.
“We chose to put our mental health first. That’s what we’re doing. And that’s what we will continue to do. Isn’t this all about breaking the cycle?
“Isn’t it all about making sure that history doesn’t repeat itself? That whatever pain and suffering has happened to you, that you don’t pass on.”
Harry says that he’s been in therapy for “four or five years” and also talks about turning his back on Britain and his family to “break the cycle” of grief being passed down the generations.
The royal also opens up about how the trauma of his mother’s death led to him using alcohol and drugs to “mask” his emotions and to “feel less like I was feeling”.
Harry was just 12 when Diana, Princess of Wales, died in August 1997 in a car crash while being pursued by the press in Paris.
He said: “I was willing to drink, I was willing to take drugs, I was willing to try and do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling.”
He told Oprah he would drink a week’s worth of alcohol on a Friday or Saturday night “not because I was enjoying it but because I was trying to mask something”.
The five-part documentary series is available to watch on Apple TV now.
Useful websites and helplines
Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI – this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk
Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.
