‘I just had to get on with it... one does’ –Duke
THE DUKE of Cambridge has admitted the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, spurred him on to tackle the issue of mental health as he called for a shift in the nation’s psyche to prevent Britain’s “stiff upper lip” culture.
Prince William spoke out yesterday as he said there was a need for more “influential and very important” people to open up about their “issues and their battles” to help those suffering from mental health problems.
His words are undoubtedly praise for his brother Prince Harry, who has received plaudits for disclosing he sought counselling to come to terms with the loss of their mother. The 20th anniversary of Diana’s death is this summer, and William was 15 years old and Harry just 12 when she was killed in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
The Duke and his wife, Kate, as well as Harry have been campaigning through their mental health campaign, Heads Together, to encourage the nation to speak about psychological problems or to be a sympathetic ear.
Singer Lady Gaga has joined their campaign, teaming up with William for a video, watched by thousands online, where they encouraged people to open up about their feelings and bring an end to the “shame” of talking about mental health issues.
And speaking in London after a screening of the first instalment of a two-part Mind over Marathon documentary, William said: “I think this is a pivotal moment in the change of mental health.
“I really think we’re on the cusp of something really big and I know the BBC are keen to continue covering mental health and really trying to make that change.
“As you can see, you know, I have my own reasons for being involved in mental health – what happened to me with my mother when I was younger – but equally the charitable work I do at the moment and the areas that I’m involved in, it all comes back to mental health.”
Speaking without notes, the Duke added: “So many parts of what I go and visit and people I meet, mental health is at the key heart of all their problems, whether it’s homelessness, veterans’ welfare, addiction, many of that stems from mental health issues.
“And we need to make mental health normal, we need to treat it the same way we treat physical health, it has to be seen in the same way.
“And the more documentaries we have like this, the more we have influential and very important people speaking about their issues and their battles, the better.”
William, Kate and Harry feature in the documentary, which charts the progress of 10 runners taking part in this year’s London Marathon to aid their recovery from mental health issues. They are running for the Royal trio’s Heads Together mental health campaign, which is the charity of year for the global sporting event taking place on Sunday.
William also said he and Kate want their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, to be able to talk about their emotions. He told the charity publication, CALMzine, he had visited schools and seen children discuss “difficult subjects in a clear and emotionally articulate way”.
The Duke said: “Seeing this has really given me hope things are changing and there is a generation coming up who find it normal to talk openly about emotions.”
He added: “There may be a time and a place for the ‘stiff upper lip’, but not at the expense of your health.” THE ROYAL Family has always been known for their “stiff upper lip” attitude – and none more so than the Duke of Edinburgh.
Prince Philip had a difficult and turbulent childhood. After being exiled from Greece when he was just 18 months old, he was shunted between relatives after being abandoned by his father, who went to live in the south of France, while his mother, who was confined to an asylum following a breakdown, was out of contact with him for many years.
The Duke, who does not like to talk about his experiences, has been matter of fact about his family’s break up.
“I just had to get on with it. You do. One does,” he once said.
The Queen is reported to follow her mother’s mantra: “Never complain. Never explain”, and the British are often viewed as wearing emotional restraint as a badge of national pride.
But Prince Harry’s openness about the struggles he faced as a result of his mother’s death has been praised by mental health experts. He revealed he sought counselling after 20 years of bottling up his grief after Diana, Princess of Wales, died when he was 12.
This kind of openness is rarely seen in Royal circles, although Diana - dubbed the People’s Princess - was seen as embodying an openness rarely seen in such a high-profile figure.
She spoke freely out about her post-natal depression, bulimia and self harming in her famous Panorama interview in 1995.
“I had bulimia for a number of years. And that’s like a secret disease. You inflict it upon yourself because your self-esteem is at a low ebb, and you don’t think you’re worthy or valuable,” the Princess said.
While Harry spent two decades not dealing with his own emotional turmoil, Diana’s death in 1997 was seen as marking a shift in the national psyche, such was the unprecedented outpouring of public grief for her.