‘I hope our mother would be proud of us’
Prince Harry said it was his ‘duty’ to speak out about mental health issues in order to help young people
PRINCE HARRY has condemned the “lies and misconceptions” of the internet age, saying he “cannot stand the idea” of a generation of young people dealing with their worries alone.
Prince Harry, who this week spoke for the first time about his own mental health, said the “huge generation gap” between his upbringing and that of children today meant the world and the monarchy must advance to keep up. Saying that sharing his own experience was part of his “duty and service” as a member of the Royal family, he added he was determined to help shatter the stigma around mental illness to help young people realise that not everybody else’s life was “absolutely perfect”.
In a series of television interviews yesterday, Prince Harry said he hoped his mother would be proud of him and his brother for their efforts, adding: “I know exactly what she would say. She would say ‘wow’ the appetite [for the public to speak about mental health] was there.”
Earlier this week, he told The Daily Telegraph how he had been in therapy after spending years repressing his feelings about the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
Yesterday, he appeared in public for the first time since the interview to officially open the London Marathon, meeting runners taking part in aid of Heads Together.
In an interview with Channel 5, he told Sian Williams, who is running the marathon for the charity along with The Telegraph’s Bryony Gordon, that he was acutely aware of the challenges facing a new generation.
“There is a huge generational gap across the whole country and one thing we worry about the most is the younger generation,” he said. “There was no internet when I was born and the speed at which this world has advanced … we have to advance with it. It’s as simple as that.
“I can’t stand the idea of young kids and teenagers having to deal with these issues alone and not being able to talk about it with their parents, not being able to talk about it with their buddies at school because of fear of stigma, expectation.
“You’ve got all of these children having lies and misconceptions thrusted upon them, rammed down their throats on a daily basis, where they think that everybody else’s life is absolutely perfect.”
Asked by ITV whether his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, would be proud of the Heads Together campaign, he said: “I hope so. I think she would be proud of the campaign, proud of everybody involved, proud of us.”
The Duchess of Cambridge praised her brother-in-law for speaking out about his own mental health, proclaiming him “brilliant”.
The Duchess, who yesterday welcomed London Marathon runners to Kensington Palace to support the Heads Together charity, said the mental health campaign had been “amazing”.
Asked about Prince Harry’s candid interview, she said: “We all felt there was very much a campaign to get everyone talking and have these conversations.
“We’ve got to do the same, you know, so he’s been brilliant.”
Jamie Moloy, a head teacher, told the Duchess at the event: “What I love is your brother-in-law talking the other day, because that’s just ignited it.”
He added Prince Harry was now a “real hero for a lot of people”.
“Absolutely,” the Duchess replied.