Prince Harry opens his heart to speak about his troubled past

grief: Prince says boxing saved him by giving him a channel for his aggression

Prince Harry has revealed he sought counselling after two years of “total chaos” having spent nearly 20 years not thinking about the death of his mother.

Harry was 12 when Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash, but he said it was not until his late twenties that he processed the grief.

The 32-year-old told the Daily Telegraph: “My way of dealing with it was sticking my head in the sand, refusing to ever think about my mum, because why would that help?”

The prince sought help after his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, told him he needed to deal with it and that it was not normal to think nothing had affected him.

Harry said dealing with grief in the public eye had led to him coming “very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions”.

He said boxing “saved” him after he took it up to deal with his aggression, having come close to “punching someone” when he was 28.

Alongside William and the Duchess of Cambridge, Harry is spearheading the Heads Together campaign, which is the 2017 London Marathon’s charity of the year.

Harry will be joined by William and Kate to hand out medals to some runners as they cross the finish line on The Mall after the race, which the royals hope will be the “mental health marathon”.

The prince said he was now in a “good place”.

He added: “Because of the process I have been through over the past two and a half years, I’ve now been able to take my work seriously, been able to take my private life seriously as well, and been able to put blood, sweat and tears into the things that really make a difference and things that I think will make a difference to everybody else.”

Picture: PA. Prince Harry says he is in a better place now.