Harry reopens his war wounds: He’s been quiet for months, but now the Duke’s back on Netflix and moaning there was no ‘support structure’ to help him after Afghan tour

After a period of relative calm, Prince Harry has reopened old wounds with new lashes at the royal family today. He claimed no one helped him when his life “unraveled” after returning from Afghanistan.

The Duke of Sussex used a new Netflix documentary series to voice his complaints after months in which the once-regular attacks on the California-based prince’s royals had seemingly subsided.

In his Heart of Invictus documentary series, which focused on his sports tournament for wounded veterans, Harry said he felt no emotion and couldn’t cry when he came home from the war and finally faced the trauma of losing his mother.

The duke said his biggest struggle was that “no one around me could really help” – despite crediting his brother Prince William in 2017 for being “a huge support”.

Tonight, several sources with knowledge of the situation over the years raised eyebrows at Harry’s claims. While emphasizing that they would not belittle his personal experiences, one suggested that he had a “continuous selective memory.”

Warrior Prince: Prince Harry pictured in Helmand province in 2007 during his tour of Afghanistan

Harry made two army tours in Afghanistan and wrote in his biography Spare how he killed 25 Taliban insurgents in his Apache helicopter. He said mental health was a “dirty word” when he went on his first tour in 2008, and it wasn’t until he returned from his second tour in 2013 that he became aware of the trauma he had been bottling up since Princess’s fatal car accident Diana. years earlier.

He told the documentary, “I didn’t have that support structure, that network, or that expert advice to identify what was really going on with me. Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you consider therapy is when you’re lying on the floor in a fetal position, probably wishing you had dealt with this sort of thing before.’

However, his claim seems to conflict with an interview he gave in 2017, in which he said, ‘My brother, you know, bless him, he was a huge support to me. He kept saying, this isn’t right, this isn’t normal, you need to talk to (someone) about things, it’s okay.”

The five-part Netflix series charts the Invictus Games, the tournament for wounded military personnel considered by many to be Harry’s greatest achievement.

He set up the games to help rehabilitate wounded soldiers by giving them a new purpose. He proudly recounted how “wives, girlfriends, parents, grandparents, children” had said to him, “Thank you for bringing my father back” or “Thank you for putting a smile on my husband’s face again.”

The Duchess of Sussex only has a cameo role in the series, the latest project in the £80 million deal with Netflix, only making fleeting appearances in four of the five episodes.

In one episode, the Duke confides in her about how nervous he is about his upcoming speech at the Salute to Freedom gala in New York in November 2021.

As they walk into the gala hand in hand Harry tells her “We haven’t done this in a while” to which she replies “I know” and Harry adds “My heart… I’m like (mimics the sound of a rapid heartbeat) I’m nervous’.

In an episode of the Netflix series, Harry confides in Meghan about how nervous he is for his upcoming speech at the Salute to Freedom gala in New York in November 2021.

Prince Harry pictured in comfy slippers in his new ‘Heart of Invictus’ documentary series

The Duke said he launched the Invictus Games in 2014 after seeing injured soldiers flying home from Afghanistan in 2013.

Other scenes show Meghan taking part in meetings and helping him prepare a speech in The Hague. She is seen introducing her “incredible” husband at the opening ceremony of last year’s games.

Harry begins episode one by answering the question ‘What are you doing, Harry?’ by answering, ‘What should I do? Um, on any given day I’m a father of two kids under the age of three; have a few dogs. A husband. I am founder and patron of Invictus Games Foundation.” Filmed talking to servicemen who suffered life-changing injuries, Harry shares his own insights.

He says, “Look, I can only speak from my own experience, but during my tour of Afghanistan in 2012, when I flew Apaches, something unraveled somewhere after that.”

Speaking to Canadian indoor rower Darrell Ling, the Duke says, “I can’t pretend to know what you’ve been through, but I had a moment in my life where I didn’t know about it, but because of the trauma of losing my mother then I was twelve years old, I had no emotions, I couldn’t cry, I couldn’t feel. I didn’t know then.

“And it wasn’t until later in life, at 28 years old, that a circumstance arose where the first few bubbles came out and then all of a sudden it was like somebody shook and it went ‘poof’ – and then it was chaos. My emotions were sprayed all over the wall.”

The Duke said he launched the Invictus Games in 2014 after seeing injured soldiers flying home from Afghanistan in 2013.

His Netflix series follows veterans from the UK, US, Ukraine and Canada as they train and compete in the 2022 games in the Netherlands, and how the tournament changed their lives.

The Heart of Invictus series is seen as part of the Sussexes’ attempt to rebrand themselves after a series of PR setbacks. The documentary is under pressure to become a ratings success after the couple’s lucrative media deal with Spotify ended in June after just one season of Meghan’s podcast Archetypes.

The release of Harry’s passion project comes as he and Meghan prepare for their first public appearance since May. She will join her husband at next month’s Invictus Games in Düsseldorf, a spokesman for the Sussexes confirmed.

Ahead of the Games, Harry travels solo to Britain to attend an awards ceremony for WellChild, a charity of which he is a patron, on September 7, the eve of the first anniversary of the Queen’s death.