During a long interview with a trauma specialist, Prince Harry said on Saturday that he always felt “different” from the rest of his family.
By QM with AFP
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Etre a crowned head is far from being a long calm river. Prince Harry revealed on Saturday March 4 that he always felt “slightly different” from the rest of the British royal family and that smoking cannabis helped him, during a long interview with a trauma specialist. Harry, 38, told Dr Gabor Mate that, having grown up in a “broken family”, he does his best not to pass on “trauma” to his children.
This conversation comes after the publication, in January, of his controversial Memoirs titled The Alternate in which he recounts his adolescence marked by drugs and alcohol and details the breakdown of his relationship with his father, King Charles III, and his brother William.
“Throughout my life, from my young years, I felt slightly different from the rest of my family,” Prince Harry told Gabor Mate, according to numerous media reporting on this interview broadcast live.
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“A lot of trauma”
“I felt strange” in this environment “and I know that my mother felt the same”, referring to Princess Diana. He claimed to have been “saved” by his wife, Meghan, “an exceptional being […] coming from a different world [qui] helped him out.”
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During this interview, Gabor Mate – author of several books on trauma, addiction and illness – claimed that Harry suffers from attention deficit disorder. Summarizing the life of the prince, who notably lost his mother at the age of 12 and then served in the British armed forces in Afghanistan, the specialist estimated that he suffers from “a lot of trauma”.
Harry wants to learn from his past
Prince Harry, who moved to California after leaving Britain and the royal family with a bang in early 2020, spoke about how he educates his two children.
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Archie, 3 years old, and Lilibet, 1 year old. “I feel a huge responsibility not to pass on the traumas or negative experiences I’ve had,” he said. He added that together with Meghan they are trying to learn from their “past” and their “mistakes” in order to “break this cycle”.
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In his Memoirs, the prince admits having, in the past, regularly used cannabis as well as cocaine when he was a teenager. He repeated to Gabor Mate that cocaine “did nothing to [lui] “, but that marijuana is “different”, “it [l]really helped”. The coronation of Charles, 74, will take place in May. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been invited to attend the King’s coronation, reports Sunday The Sunday Times.
The couple have not yet announced whether they will make the trip. According to a spokesperson for the couple quoted by the British daily, Prince Harry “recently received an email from Her Majesty’s office about the coronation” of Charles III, which is to be held on May 6. “An immediate decision on the attendance of the Duke and Duchess will not be communicated from our side at this stage,” said the spokesperson.