William: Having children was scary, amazing and reminded me of mum
The Duke of Cambridge has revealed the “life-changing” experience of having children brought back the emotions he felt after the death of his mother. Speaking in a new BBC documentary, William said if you live through a “traumatic” event, like losing a parent at a young age, those feelings can resurface during the amazing but scary period of parenthood. The duke who has three children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – admitted he had found things “overwhelming” at times but he and wife Kate supported each other as they went through those “moments” together. William’s comments will feature in a film that examines men’s mental health through the prism of football, and during a discussion with former professional footballer Marvin Sordell, who said he struggled when he became a father for the first time.
Sordell said “it was the hardest time in my life”, and he found it difficult to be a role model to his child having grown up without a father.
The former Bolton Wanderers
striker asked the duke, with fathers under so much “pressure” who he went to when he was “struggling”, and William replied: “Having children is the biggest life-changing moment.
“And I agree with you, I think when you’ve been through something traumatic in life – and that is like you say your dad not being around, my mother dying when I was younger
– your emotions come back in leaps and bounds because it’s a very different phase of life.
“And there’s no one there to, kind of, help you, and I definitely found it very, at times, overwhelming.” The duke added during the oneto-one chat with Sordell: “Me and Catherine particularly, we support each other and we go through those moments together and we kind of evolve and learn together.” William was 15 and his brother Harry just 12 when their mother Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997.
In a documentary released last year dealing with mental health, the duke said that following his bereavement there was “pain like no other pain”.
Football, Prince William And Our Mental Health will be broadcast on Thursday at 8.05pm on BBC One