Prince Harry's Military Service Triggered 'Trauma' Of Losing Princess Diana
By Rebekah Gonzalez
August 30, 2023
Prince Harry is opening up about his time in the military on his new Netflix docuseries Heart of Invictus. The Duke of Sussex shared how after returning from his tour of duty in Afghanistan, he experienced a sort of "unraveling." He also went on to share that it triggered the "trauma" of losing his mother Princess Diana. “I can only speak for my personal experience," Prince Harry shared per People, "my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unraveling and the trigger to me was actually returning from Afghanistan." He continued, "But the stuff that was coming up was from 1997, from the age of 12, losing my mum at such a young age, the trauma that I had I was never really aware of, it was never discussed."
"I didn't really talk about it," Prince Harry went on. "I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done — but then when it all came fizzing out I was bouncing off the walls, I was like, ‘What is going on here? I am now feeling everything as opposed to being numb.'" He also admitted that "no one around me could really help," he said, referring to his mental health.
“I didn't have that support structure, that network or that expert advice to identify what was actually going on with me," he said. "Unfortunately, like most of us, the first time you really consider therapy is when you are lying on the floor in the fetal position probably wishing you had dealt with some of this stuff previously, and that’s what I really want to change."