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Prince Harry Sought Counseling over his Mother’s Death | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Britain’s Prince Harry – (Reuters/Stefan Wermuth)


London – Britain’s Prince Harry has revealed that he sought counseling four years ago to deal with the grief of losing his mother, Princess Diana.

In an interview with British newspaper The Telegraph, Prince Harry, 32, told the Telegraph newspaper that he sought counseling in his late twenties, to help him deal with the bitter death of his mother Princess Diana. The princess died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, after being chased by a bunch of paparazzi’s, when Harry was just 12.

Harry said he had come very close to a complete breakdown on several occasions after shutting down his emotions, affecting both his work and his personal life.

In the interview published on Monday, the youngest prince said: “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? It’s only going to make you sad, it’s not going to bring her back”.

He added: “from an emotional side, I was like ‘right, don’t ever let your emotions be part of anything.”

His older brother Prince William had encouraged him to seek help and he had visited a shrink several times. He also took up boxing to help deal with aggression after feeling he was “on the verge of punching someone,” the prince said.

“I started to have a few conversations and actually all of a sudden, all of this grief that I have never processed started to come to the forefront and I was like, there is actually a lot of stuff here that I need to deal with,” adding that he had experienced two years of total chaos.

Harry served in the British Army for 10 years, including two stints in Afghanistan, and now works with several charities including supporting wounded soldiers. Along with William and William’s wife, he also set up a mental health charity.

The prince continued: “Because of the process I have been through over the past two and a half years, I’ve now been able to take my work seriously, been able to take my private life seriously. I started to focus my efforts on the things that really make a difference and things that I think will make a difference to everybody else”.

Prince Harry, Prince William and Duchess Kate have launched a campaign concerned in mental health called The Heads Together.