Emotional Harry offers telling warning over own 'sad' situation

27 June 2024 , 12:22

926     0

Prince Harry told how he speaks to his children about grief (Image: Scotty's TV/Youtube)

Prince Harry has issued a telling warning to his two young children over a painful issue of his youth that has followed him into adulthood.

The Duke of Sussex, 39, has been vocal about his experiences with grief through his royal career and beyond, having lost his mother, Princess Diana, when he was just 12. Since moving to the US, he has opened up more on mental health, going so far as to speak about the type of therapy he has received to treat the lingering issues of his childhood.

The Prince told attendees at a recent charity event that he has warned them against dealing with their feelings in a certain way. Harry was on a flying visit to the UK in May to mark the anniversary of his mother's death when he attended an event held by Armed Forces charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers.

The Prince discussed bereavement with Nikki Scott (Scotty's TV/Youtube)

Nikki Scott, the founder of the charity which supports children of dead service members, hosted the Prince for a chat, and they discussed grief in a recorded conversation. He told the charity chief about a pep talk he once gave his children, Prince Archie, 5, and three-year-old Princess Lilibet.

He said: "That’s what I was saying to (the children), if you suppress this for too long, you can’t suppress it forever, it’s not sustainable and it will eat away at you inside." The Prince also discussed the differences between the way adults and children deal with emotions, and how changing their mindset could make the process celebratory instead of sad.

Meghan Markle 'to unleash her own memoirs' as Prince Harry's drops next week

He said children tend to think they "don’t want to talk about it because it makes me sad", adding that, in reality, it makes things "easier" to talk about their dead loved ones. He added: "But realising that if I do talk about it, and I’m celebrating their life, then actually things become easier.

"As opposed to ‘I’m not going to talk about it and that’s the best form of coping’ – when in fact it’s not." He added: "You convince yourself that the person you’ve lost wants you, or you need, to be sad for as long as possible, to prove to them that they're missed."

Liam Doyle