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The Sussexes

Speaking out about his mental heath is Prince Harry’s ‘Diana Moment’

Royal Central’s Deputy Editor, Jamie Samhan, explains how Prince Harry has just had his ‘Diana moment’.

After a recent interview with the Daily Telegraph, Prince Harry announced that he sought help for mental health struggles after dealing with the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

The unprecedented move could help thousands (if not millions) seek the help they need. By admitting he went to counselling, he is normalising mental health. This is what could be his ‘Diana Moment’.

Whether the move was intentional, his mother stepped up in a time where a cause needed a face, just as Harry did in his recent interview. In 1991, Diana shook hands with an AIDS patient sans gloves. This was when it was still widely believed the disease could be transmitted by touch. Having someone with her stature be photographed in a such a matter allowed the open conversation of HIV/AIDS to start.

Actor Micheal J. Fox did it for Parkinson’s, Christopher Reeve for Spinal Cord injuries and quadriplegics, and Diana for AIDS. This is Harry’s moment.

Unlike his older brother, Prince William, who will one day be King, Prince Harry has no set destiny. That is until now. He will be the face of mental health, the work he and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have started with their Heads Together Campaign.

When I was 16, I had my first experience with depression. No one talked about it, a few people knew what I was going through but no help. It was still taboo. Anyone who has also dealt with mental health problems, I am sure, can relate to the loneliness you feel. How reaching out to one person, one figure could have made all the difference in that time of need. My hope is that any students, or rather anyone going through what I did, will now have Prince Harry to look up to.

The tides are turning, all thanks to what to some may seem like such a simple confession, but is the light in the darkness to so many.