‘Nothing was ever done’ about Duchess’s pleas for mental help

THE Duchess of Sussex has said she contemplated suicide when pregnant but claims she was rebuffed when she sought help from the Royal household.

She told Oprah Winfrey that she felt unsupported and alone: “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”

The Duchess, 39, claimed that when she asked for help, she was told nothing could be done because it “wouldn’t be good for the institution”.

A further plea for support from the human resources department also failed when she was told they were unable to help as she was not a paid employee.

The allegations could prove highly damaging for Kensington Palace, following several high-profile campaigns about mental health.

The Duchess is understood to have struggled with her “mental welfare” from the early days of her life in the Royal family.

Her aides yesterday suggested it gradually deteriorated over the course of 2018, triggered by a lack of protection from the Royal household, and extreme loneliness.

“I just didn’t see a solution,” the Duchess said. “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. It was real and frightening. A constant thought.”

Asked explicitly by Ms Winfrey if she had been thinking of self-harm and had been having suicidal thoughts, the Duchess replied: “Yes. This was very, very clear. Very clear and very scary. I didn’t know who to turn to in that.”

Towards the end of 2018, the Duchess began to recognise that she needed professional help and wanted to check into a hospital.

She said she had struggled to admit her suicidal feelings to her husband.

“I was ashamed to have to admit it to Harry, especially, because I know how much loss he has suffered,” she said.

The Duchess dabbed away tears as she said she eventually told him just hours before they attended the premiere of Cirque du Soleil’s Totem in January 2019, when she was around five months pregnant.

She said the Duke told her she should not attend the engagement but she was so concerned for her own welfare that she felt she could not be left alone.

“It takes so much courage to admit you need help,” she said, “to admit how dark of a place you are in.”

She said she looks back at images of that night and can see how tightly his knuckles are grouped around hers.

“You can see the whites of our knuckles because we are smiling and doing our job, but we’re both just trying to hold on,” she said.

“And every time that those lights went down in that royal box, I was just weeping. And that’s so important for

‘I was ashamed to have to admit it to Harry, especially, because I know how much loss he has suffered’

people to remember, as you’ve no idea what’s going on for someone behind closed doors. Even the people that smile the biggest smiles and shine the brightest lights.”

She said she had gone to “one of the most senior people in the institution” for help before trying the Royal household’s human resources department.

“I said that I’ve never felt this way before and I need to go somewhere,” she said. “Nothing was ever done.”

In her desperation, she disclosed, she reached out to a friend of Diana, Princess of Wales.

She said she “couldn’t just call an Uber” and take herself away to seek help as she no longer had access to personal effects, such as her passport.

Sources close to the couple said the Duchess had eventually sought external professional help.