Prince Harry has described falling into a depression shortly after he and Meghan Markle left Britain for Canada, and has spoken at length about the grief he carried for his mother, Princess Diana, according to BILD.
The Duke of Sussex, 42, made the remarks in a video lesson for the MasterClass series "Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss," in conversation with the American neuroscientist Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor, 53. BILD reports that the conversation was recorded in the summer. Harry is the son of King Charles III, 77.
Why it matters
Harry's account adds detail to a period of his life that has been discussed mostly in broad strokes since he and Meghan stepped back from royal duties. It also puts a public figure's name to a pattern familiar to many people: a collapse that arrives not during the crisis but after it, once the pressure lifts.
His remarks about Diana touch on a different subject — the long-term cost of grief that is never given room, and the guilt that can attach itself to the idea of moving on.
A crash after leaving a stressful environment
Harry said he and Meghan moved to Canada to put distance between themselves and their situation and to have space to think. Within two or three days of leaving what he called a stressful environment, he experienced an adrenaline drop unlike anything he had felt before, BILD reports.
He described himself as useless around the house during that period. According to his account, he slid into a depression that lasted about two weeks and felt he could no longer function without adrenaline. The cause, as he tells it, was a body that had finally powered down after years under intense pressure.
The timeline BILD sets out: Harry, Meghan and their son Archie, then a few months old, moved to Vancouver Island in Canada at the end of 2019. On January 8, 2020, the couple published a surprise statement announcing they would withdraw as working royals.
Two decades without crying
Harry was 12 when Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997. In the MasterClass conversation he said people might assume he received the best help available — he is a prince, after all — but that he was still grieving and had nowhere to put those feelings.
He said he did not cry for nearly twenty years after his mother's death, and that he convinced himself this was a sign of strength. Looking back, he says it was not.
One part of that period stands out in his telling: he believed for a long time that staying sad was a way of remaining loyal to his mother, and that the thought of being happy made him feel guilty. Therapy, he said, changed how he saw it. The realization he describes as most important was that Diana simply wanted him to be happy.
A ten-day rule
Harry now centers his life on his wife Meghan, 45, and their children Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5. He described a personal rule he follows for their sake: he does not spend more than ten days away from his wife and children.
What to watch next: whether the full MasterClass lesson, recorded in the summer, adds further detail when it is released in full.
