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Prince Harry’s decision to speak to a trauma expert could lead him to review a variety of his own issues in public.
Gabor Maté, 79, will take part in the live discussion with the prince on “living with loss and the importance of personal healing.”
The difficulties Harry has faced in his life until very recently have remained largely private and personal to the father of two.
But his revealing autobiography, combined with a series of televised sit-down interviews, has brought them all into the public arena in their entirety.
More than anything, the death of her mother, Princess Diana, has shaped her life and her views on certain issues.
Here MailOnline examines the potential traumas and their effects that Harry may be detailing with Dr. Maté:
More than anything, the death of Princess Diana when Harry was just 12 years old has shaped his life.
Walking beside his mother’s coffin
This is a particularly traumatic memory for Harry, who has spoken poignantly of it on several occasions.
The image of the young prince walking behind his mother’s coffin has been shown in documentaries he has made as well as in contemporary reports of the time.
In her production of Apple TV’s The Me You Can’t See, she recalls the feeling of suppressing her pain and the sounds she still clearly remembers.
He told show host Oprah Winfrey: “For me, what I remember most was the sound of hoofbeats through the mall.”
“It was like I was out of my body and just walking around doing what was expected of me.
“I was showing a tenth of the emotion that everyone else was showing: this was my mother, you didn’t even know her.”
Harry says that every time he sees a camera it takes him back to the day his mother died.
camera flashes
Harry was just 12 years old when his mother Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris in August 1997.
He believes that the paparazzi who were following the princess were responsible for the accident.
Harry says this has caused a reaction every time a photo is taken in public.
In 2017 he revealed: “I think being part of this family, in this role and this job, every time I see a camera, every time I hear a click, every time I see a flash, it sets me back.” .
“So in that sense, it’s the worst reminder of his life compared to the best.”
Harry, William and Kate together on Stage 1 of the Tour de France on July 5, 2014 in Harrogate
fulfilling royal duties
Harry has said in the past that his mother’s death manifested itself in a series of problems for him during a specific period of his life.
The Duke of Sussex says he was devastated from the age of 28 to 32 at the prospect of fulfilling his royal duties.
Harry says that he would drink excessively on Fridays or Saturdays in an effort to mask the problem.
He said it was so severe that it would physically impact him in the form of uncontrollable sweating.
The prince revealed: ‘I was mentally out of control. Every time I put on a suit and tie… I have to play the role, and say, ‘okay, game face,’ look in the mirror and say, ‘come on. Even before leaving the house he was drenched in sweat. He was in fight or flight mode.
“I was willing to drink, I was willing to take drugs, I was willing to try to do the things that made me feel less like I did.”
Much of Prince Harry’s autobiography revolves around his feelings about being ‘William’s spare’
being the spare
The duke’s book isn’t titled by chance, it’s how he says he feels after being born into a family where he says he considers himself merely a surrogate for heir William.
During the autobiography, he suggests that this feeling has dominated much of his life.
One of the weirder segments in the books sees him admit that he was upset that his brother got a bigger room than his at Balmoral when they were kids.
He seemed annoyed that William had a better room with fabulous views, while he had a smaller, less luxurious room in the castle.
Elsewhere, he writes that he grew up knowing he was there to give his older brother, Wills, an organ donation if he needed it.
“I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy,” he said, claiming that his parents and grandparents even referred to him and his brother as the heir and spare as a form of ‘shorthand’.
Prince Harry went public with the fact that he had killed 25 Taliban while serving in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan
Harry has spoken proudly of his time serving in the military in Afghanistan, saying it gave him the freedom to be himself.
But he has gone public with the fact that he had killed 25 Taliban while in the theater of war.
And his actions to damage relations with his family through a series of damaging revelations have been called into question.
Retired Colonel Philip Ingram believes that he may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
He told Sky News: “A lot of the behavior I see in Prince Harry is almost triggering for me.”
“They remind me of some of my behaviors whenever I was suffering from pretty severe PTSD.
“I’m looking at a person with problems and a person who needs help, not someone who should be continually criticized for the way they’re acting.”
Prince Harry has talked about seeing therapists because he feared losing Meghan
Fear of losing Meghan
Prince Harry has recounted how an argument with his wife put him on the path of different therapists in an effort to “fix himself”.
The duke said that one had told him that he sometimes went back to the age his mother died.
Harry explains how his desire to seek counseling was because he feared losing Meghan.
He said: ‘When she said: ‘I think you need to see someone’ it was in reaction to an argument we had.
And in that discussion, I unknowingly came back to Harry, 12 years old.
‘I saw GPs. I saw doctors. I saw therapists. I saw alternative therapists. I saw all kinds of people, but it was meeting and being with Meghan. I knew that if I didn’t get therapy and fix myself, I was going to lose this woman that I could spend the rest of my life with.’