FAMILY STRAIN
Prince William says ‘lockdown has tested everyone’ hours after Harry’s bombshell of life being a ‘nightmare’ in the Firm
PRINCE William today confessed "lockdown has tested everyone" as he spoke about the impact of the pandemic on mental health just hours after Prince Harry's latest public bombshell.
The future king grinned as he arrived for his first royal engagement of a seven-day tour of Scotland - after his younger brother released a string of revelations about Royal life.
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, 38, today managed to look relaxed after his brother's claims about his "nightmare" life within the Firm.
The Duke of Cambridge was seen smiling and laughing during a visit to Spartans Football Club's Ainslie Park Stadium in Edinburgh, where he heard about initiatives championing mental health ahead of the weekend's Scottish Cup Final.
And the royal, who is second in line to the throne, chatted with members of the Scottish FA's board and the Mental Health Advisory Panel during the visit - revealing: "Young men are really susceptible to serious mental health issues and more likely to bottle it up and not talk about it."
He added: "Both of you are good listeners. That's where it starts from.
"Lockdown has tested everyone in ways we didn't think they would and taken away coping mechanisms to get through it, it's quite difficult."
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Inside the clubhouse, the duke had a video call with footballers Harry Kane, 27, David Marshall, 36, Jess Fishlock, 34, and Julie Nelson, 35.
Kane, a Spurs and England striker, said: "Mental health is an important part of the game. Everyone expresses emotions in different ways.
"I talk to teammates a little bit more and ask them a little bit more about family life and personal life and get to know them because we spend so much time together, so I personally try to dig deeper into each individual."
William will be in Scotland for the next week after he was recently appointed by the Queen as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
It's been a rollercoaster 24 hours for the royals, with William just last night reacting to the BBC Panorama scandal.
The dad said the BBC "let my mother down, my family down and let the public down too" after Princess Diana's interviewer Martin Bashir was found to be "deceitful".
It comes as:
- Harry insisted the Oprah interview was done "compassionately" to leave room for reconciliation with his family
- William "personally penned" his criticism of the BBC over Princess Diana's Panorama interview
- The BBC licence fee could be cut for five years after Martin Bashir's Princess Diana Panorama probe "tarnished" its reputation
- Princess Diana's brother called on Scotland Yard to investigate the BBC over the Panorama interview
- The Royal Family is "struggling to understand" what Prince Harry hopes to achieve with his tell-all interviews
And Prince Harry's mental health project, which he teamed up with Oprah on, was then released just hours later.
Prince Harry spoke out in The Me You Can't See episode with Oprah - with the episode seeing the royal claim he felt compelled to step away from the Royal Family as he was "controlled through fear" and told not to talk about his "trauma".
Experts have said the Duke of Sussex's revelations would have left his family "tearing out their hair".
opened up about his struggles with his mental wellbeing and claimed his father Prince Charles left him to "suffer" amid "total neglect" for his mental health.
He also spoke about Meghan's struggles with mental health - and said the palace was at fault for making her ";cry into her pillow" at night after the royal couple recorded their interview with Oprah earlier this year.
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"Before the Oprah interview had aired, and because of their headlines and the combined effort of The Firm and the media to smear her, I was woken in the night to hear Meghan crying into her pillow because she doesn't want to wake me up because I'm already carrying too much," he said.
"That's heartbreaking."
, 39, revealed during the high-profile interview with Oprah, which aired in March, that her mental health suffered while she was living in the UK.
She also said she was not given the help she needed when she reportedly felt suicidal.
And in Harry's latest documentary, he said Meghan didn't give into her suicidal thoughts because of how "unfair" it would have been to him after the death of his mother.
'TOTAL NEGLECT'
"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."
And he accused his family of "total neglect" when he reached out to try and get help for Meghan, who was then 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.
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He singled out Charles, .
"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'," he said.
"That doesn’t make sense. Just because you suffered, that doesn’t mean your kids have to suffer. Actually quite the opposite.
"If you suffered, do everything you can to make sure that whatever negative experiences you had, you can make it right for your kids."
Harry also revealed he's been in therapy for "four or five years" - while also opening up about turning his back on Britain and his family to "break the cycle" of grief being passed down the generations.
He said he was never given the space or time to mourn Diana's death - and eventually turned to drinking and drugs to numb his lingering pain.
You're Not Alone
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It doesn't discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society - from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It's the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it's rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
That is why The Sun launched the You're Not Alone campaign.
The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.
Let's all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others... You're Not Alone.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- CALM, , 0800 585 858
- Heads Together,
- Mind, , 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus,, 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, , 116 123
- Movember,
- Anxiety UK , 03444 775 774 Monday-Friday 9.30am-10pm, Saturday/Sunday 10am-8pm
"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 said.
"But I slowly became aware that, okay, I wasn't drinking Monday to Friday, but I would probably drink a week's worth in one day on a Friday or a Saturday night.
"And I would find myself drinking, not because I was enjoying it but because I was trying to mask something."
The was released on Apple TV in the US on Thursday night and in the UK on Friday morning.
It was released days after Harry told Dax Shepard on his podcast that his father passed on “genetic pain” from his own troubled childhood.
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During the brutally frank chat about his mental health with the podcast host and actor, Harry also claimed that his life was "a mixture between The Truman Show and being in a zoo."
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And in his interview with Oprah earlier this year, the Duke had claimed he believed his father and brother, Prince William, are “trapped” in their Royal Family roles.
Harry will reportedly appear on Good Morning America on Friday morning after the series premiere to discuss the show.
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