Prince Harry has spoken about the grief and trauma he felt as a child after his mother, Princess Diana, died.
The Duke of Sussex, who is the chief impact officer for professional coaching and mental health firm BetterUp, expressed his desire to increase “mental fitness advocacy and awareness,” and urged everyone to be “proactive.”
“Ninety-nine percent of people on the planet are dealing with some form of loss, trauma, or grief,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are; the majority of us have gone through a lot of this in our youth and have forgotten about it.
“Now, the body doesn’t forget, and it keeps track of the score, as we all know. As a result, there is an emotional component to it as well as a mental health component.”
Diana tragically died on August 31, 1997, after being injured in a car accident in Paris. At the time, Harry was 13 years old.
“Rather than looking at going, ‘Yeah, exactly that, every single day I’m trying to survive’ or, ‘Every single day I’m trying to cope,’ I think we need to completely change it,” Harry continued on the The Masters of Scale podcast, which interviews start-up entrepreneurs about the key to their success and is hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
He went on to say: “That is what I mean when I say there is a distinction between mental health and mental fitness. ‘I’m not going to wait for myself to either collapse on the floor or have a nervous breakdown or burnout and then have to rely on my friends or pay X amount of money or find the money to be able to afford professional help,’ says the mental fitness aspect.
“As far as I can tell, mental fitness is more about getting ahead of the game. What can you do to be proactive and avoid a situation like this?”
based in San Francisco BetterUp is worth more than a billion dollars, and Harry’s responsibilities include product strategy, philanthropy, and public advocacy related to mental health, which he began in March of last year.
He’s also a part of the company’s Pledge 1 percent initiative, which encourages businesses to donate 1% of their equity, staff time, product, or profit to their communities.
Harry recently revealed that his two children refer to their late grandmother as Grandma Diana and that he is constantly aware of her presence.
“It’s been more so in the last two years than it’s ever been,” he said.
“It’s almost as if she’s finished with my brother and is now attempting to assist me. She helped him get set up, and now she’s assisting me. That’s how I’m feeling. He has his children, and I have mine.”
“She’s keeping an eye on us,” he added.
You are right that mental health is just as important as physical health. You are also right that most people have dealt with/are dealing with loss, betrayal, grief, and/or trauma. I know that I have dealt with all of the above. I wish I could forget some of what I’ve been through and that I wasn’t aware of what people who smiled in my face, claiming to care about me have done to and/or have stolen from me. I’ve dealt with it and have/am processing the complicated feelings associated with it. I’m the first to admit it isn’t easy. However, I’ve also believed that there is nothing good about living in the past because NO ONE can change it. All we can do is accept it and move forward. I will not punish anyone I welcome in my life for the evil that people have done to me and mine, though.
When I started to reconnect with your family, the Monday before your brother’s wedding, and subsequently picked up the vibe on your interest in me….I came to realize the impact that your mom’s death had on you. The more I learned about you and grew to understand you….it became very apparent that when you lost your mom, it shook you to your core because you and your mom shared a very special bond. I’m surprised you didn’t act out more than you did during the decade after you lost her. You were only a child when she died, you really weren’t given enough time to process the loss and grieve it in private, you had to walk behind her coffin in a very public funeral procession, AND you were being then harassed by the paparazzi once you hit 18 years of age (the very same people who hunted your mom and caused her death). It was too much. I also suspected that you wanted out, or at least a break, from Royal life and life in the spotlight back in 2013. I even told Dave that I suspected this. It’s good that you’ve delved into the impact that losing your mom has had on you and have processed the feelings associated with it. I’m very proud of you, Harry.