Prince Harry Reflects On Grief Over His Mom Princess Diana’s Death, Mental Issues

Nearly two decades since the death of Princess Diana, her son, Prince Harry, now admits that the grief he repressed recently started to affect him.

“My way of dealing with it was sticking my head in the sand, refusing to ever think about my mum, because why would that help?” the Prince said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph.

But despite his attempts to bury his feelings, they suddenly began to resurface in unpleasant ways. Harry, who is 32 now, says that in his late twenties he began to feel enraged at royal events, also feeling profound anxiety. At times, he was on the verge of punching someone, he said.

Before being inundated with his grief, Prince Harry believes that he was effected by his feelings in his early twenties, he just didn’t know they were there.

“I, through a lot of my twenties, was a problem and I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

Prince Harry was a mainstay on the cover tabloids during this time, often depicted as the royal playboy, constantly on a quest for the next party.

“I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle,” he said about how he was affected by his public persona.

Prince Harry’s interview comes at the same time as the newly formed “Heads Together,” a charity which promotes good mental health, created by Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Kate.

Prince Harry’s brother, Prince William, it turns out, had a lot to do with Harry’s recovery. Said the Harry, “For me personally, my brother, you know, bless him, he was a huge support to me. He kept saying this is not right, this is not normal, you need to talk to [someone] about stuff, it’s ok.”

Prince Harry and the Duke will commemorate the 20th anniversary of their mother’s death by commissioning a statue later this year. In addition, the brothers will present awards in her name to honor her “kindness, compassion, and service.”