Duke says having children amazing, but scary

Sandringham estate, where they have been undertaking royal engagements via video call, and homeschooling Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Sordell, a former England under-21 player, talked about his struggle with depression and the pressure he felt after becoming a father in 2017.

‘‘It was the hardest time in my life,’’ he told the Duke. ‘‘I grew up without my father... I really struggled with my emotions at that time.’’

Asked how he had managed the leap into fatherhood, the Duke said he could relate to what Sordell was saying.

‘‘Having children is the biggest life-changing moment. It really is,’’ he said. ‘‘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 – the 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. I definitely found it very, at times, overwhelming.’’

On how he had coped, he added: ‘‘Me and Catherine particularly, we support each other and we go through those moments together and we kind of evolve and learn together...

‘‘Emotionally, things come out of the blue that you don’t ever expect or that maybe you think you’ve dealt with.

‘‘I can relate to what you’re saying about children coming along. It’s one of the most amazing moments of life, but it’s also one of the scariest.’’

Reassuring the footballer he would be a brilliant father, he promised: ‘‘Your dad would be very proud of you.’’

‘‘So would your mum,’’ said Sordell, as the Duke smiled and replied: ‘‘I appreciate that.’’

The conversation forms part of a documentary, filmed by the BBC over the course of a year.

In it, a spokesman said, the Duke ‘‘meets men from all walks of life, from players, fans and managers from grassroots to the elite as part of his efforts to start the biggest-ever conversation on mental health, through football’’.

Sordell spoke of a suicide attempt in 2013, saying he had been in a ‘‘really bad place’’ but that the attitude in football at the time meant ‘‘we don’t look at these things and tackle them and try to solve them, we think we just wanna put that away, and leave it’’.

He retired last year, aged 28. He has a wife and two small children, and now owns a media production company.

The new documentary was supposed to be a highlight of months of work for the Duke, with a series of engagements, pencilled in for this year, focusing on mental health and football.

Working with the charities Mind, Calm, Sporting Chance and Heads Together, it saw grassroots clubs to professional footballers try to ‘‘break the stigma’’ around admitting to mental health difficulties.

The new documentary, Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health, will be broadcast this week. – Telegraph Group