I would have thought the opposite. State weddings and funerals are fine to be televised, but both sons objected strongly to their parents’ tell-all interviews and were very hurt by them. I would think they would not continue a practice they felt so hurtful.
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I’ve stayed out of this discussion but I think there isn’t a lot of grace being shown here for a young man who grew up in the spotlight, had a major childhood trauma when his mother was killed, and had self admitted issues with substance abuse and mental health.
Seems to me he’s trying to de-stigmatize mental health and counseling with the platform that he’s been given. The take away to me is not that his family is horrible, but that money and privilege don’t buy happiness and peace. That even the most perfect looking family has their issues and getting help isn’t a sign of weakness.
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^^^ This, 1000%
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The man is 36 years old, not 18. Complaining about his father’s parenting skills isn’t really necessary to promote mental health awareness. Diana had certainly accomplished a lot in her 36 years.
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William and Harry did not grow up in the spotlight. They were kept out of view until they were adults.
Certainly getting help is not a sign of weakness, but what I see is him saying is that his family was horrible. I don’t hear him advocating for mental health for others, just for himself.
My dh died when my son was a little younger than Harry. DS doesn’t go around shouting from the rooftops how horrible his childhood was. He struggled for years, but he’s gotten on with his life. He’s figured out a way to channel the pain into making the world a better place for others.
Diana died 24 years ago. Harry should have been able to move from active grieving/resentment by now. He seems to me to be very self-absorbed and unable to move on. It’s always about him and not about others. It’s very unlike his mother.
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Nah, not at all. They grew up no different from your kid, of course. No pictures in the tabloids, no on in the in the whole world knew who they were wherever they went. Incognito in their boarding schools. No worldwide dissemination of the story of their mother’s mangled body, no discussion of the accident and what led up to it, ever, such as affairs, divorces, intercepted sex talk on phone calls. Totally private lives. Funeral extremely successfully kept out of view, sure. No different from your kid whatsoever.
Now at least he gets to shout whatever he wants shouted from the rooftops. It’s not like he can ever have a “normal” life, and how would he even know what that is. Apparently they are trying. By keeping chickens.
I am honestly much more surprised at how stable William seems. Maybe it’s the two years he had on his brother, maybe the clearer trajectory for his life, maybe the mostly stable relationship he entered into right at the beginning of adulthood. Or maybe he was just more naturally resilient.
I don’t get how anyone can be surprised that Harry is still moving on from being 12 years old. A part of him, I think, will always walk behind that coffin through London, with the eyes of the world on him.
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The children of the rich and famous have to put up with a lot, miss out on some of the ‘normal’ or traditional parts of childhood. They can’t just walk to the store to buy candy and everything they do can be splashed across the headlines. Cheat at school? We’ll know. Kiss a girl? We’ll know.
But they get a lot of extra perks too. Harry and William got to live in castles, vacation in Switzerland, meet presidents and kings and popes. Chelsea Clinton got to have a private tour of the Xian terra cotta soldiers.
Not a life Harry chose, but none of us choose our life. You make the best of what you have.
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I think Willam appears “stable” because the firm has a vested interest in making him appear so.
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I am sorry, you have shared something very personal and I may have come across as unnecessarily harsh.
I am sure that, besides dealing with your own grief, helping your kid with his and creating a space for this was a priority for you.
Part of who your son is today is on him, but part of it is on you, and the hard work you did while surely dealing with a host of other issues. Making your and your son’s mental health a priority after a harsh blow.
Do you imagine Harry’s mental health was a priority for anyone in the “firm”? Does Charles get to marry Camilla, and what will it mean for the succession, and what title will she get, and what headdress will she wear?
William’s mental health, maybe. As @Youdon_tsay says, at least the appearance of it.
This is not a family as you or I know it.
@twoinanddone, I don’t think anyone has to be pitied for wealth and fame. But seriously, would you exchange all the castles in the world for losing your mother at the age of 12, under the circumstances? And the circumstances had a lot to do with her death.
I see a lot of pity here for the Queen, surely the most privileged woman in the world, for having to deal with family strife even though she just lost her husband. At the ripe old age of 99.
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Of course no one would pick wealth and privilege for keeping a mother alive, but no one gets that choice. Having your mother die is terrible, but that doesn’t give you a pass to all your bad choices either. He claims he wants to be different than his parents but then repeats their behaviors that he didn’t like.
What was accomplished by Diana’s interview? She might have felt better but I don’t think it changed anyone’s mind about her marriage. She made mistakes, Charles was always a creep who was doing his duty and then having affairs. Now Harry gives an interview bringing up all the things he felt were wrong about his life. What did it accomplish?
Just like everyone, he’s making decisions and mistakes as he goes through life. He’s just doing it in a more public way than most of us and then expects us to pity him because his life is out there in public. The way to get out of the public life is to stay home, stay quiet. If you want Oprah to come over, tell her to leave her cameras at home and just come for dinner.
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1000%! Plenty of famous people/celebrities bow out of public life. Harry and Meghan don’t seem interested in pursuing that lifestyle. Their motto appears to be any publicity is better than none.
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An alternative view, from Elaine Lui regarding the docuseries, The Me You Can’t See:
Did Prince Harry talk about his childhood and the trauma that he’s still processing from his mother’s death, having to walk behind her casket with, literally, a billion people watching around the world? Did he say that his father, Prince Charles, told him that, “Well, it was like that for me, so it’s going to be like that for you” and that he disagrees because that’s the only way to stop generational pain? Yes. He said all those things – but in the context of 1. trying to relate to others who are also stopping the cycle of trauma in their own families’ lives and 2. in the spirit of sharing and being vulnerable, so that it might encourage others to confront their mental health issues and begin healing. You can’t participate in a project about mental health awareness, asking others to discuss the most painful parts of their lives, without doing the same, especially if you’ve been there yourself.
But, but, but… it’s not fair to his family! Isn’t he being the most fair to his family? As in his wife and his kids? In all the dragging of Harry by the British tabloids and the haters because he’s supposedly doing dirty by his “family”, it’s weird that the “family” that they’re referring to don’t include his life partner and their kids and the steps he’s taken to ensure that he is mentally well to be the best possible version of himself for them.
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You don’t have to talk about it on Oprah.
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They did not get money from the Oprah interview but clearly promoted their brand and made lucrative deals since then. Speak your truth, claim your voice, all good but there must be a better way to do it that does not alienate your family and lead to possible long term estrangement. Harry could have focused on losing his mom and how hard that was and how he struggled. Why you need to add on how horrible your family was in order to promote support for mental health help is beyond me.
Everyone knows he lost his mother and it was traumatic . He could have addressed that kind of thing and how difficult that is and support for mental health issues without implying he has gotten no help from his remaining family at any stage in his life. It just doesn’t seem to be true but maybe I’m missing something. He still seems over focused on Diana and I understand that it is hard with losing your parent. Both my parents lost their mothers as very young children. I never had grandmothers.
I am glad that Charles,Elizabeth, William, cousins, etc. are so far staying away from talking too much to the press about Harry. Many people probably have stories they could tell about him being a less than perfect son,brother, grandson, uncle.cousin, friend . Yes, they are a “royal” family, but still a family like most have, with strong ties and traditions. And lots of baggage!
I hope they are able to work this out as a family . God Save the Queen! 
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H/M are very quiet. I wonder if the baby came.
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You are spot on!!
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I like her name. Glad everything went well . Archie and “Lili” .
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I can’t stand the name. Lillibet is not a real name. It’s a nickname the Queen has, presumably because as a toddler Princess Margaret couldn’t pronounce Elizabeth. Lily would have been fine. Elizabeth would have been fine. Lillibet isn’t…strictly IMO, of course.
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Completely agree! And as it’s a nickname for the Queen I feel it should have been kept for her.
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For all we know, they ran Lilibet by the family. They can and did name their child as they pleased. All the best to Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lili!
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