Prince Harry has opened up about his mental health struggles during his exit from the royal family. He revealed that he fell into a deep depression for about two weeks after moving to Canada in late 2019.
Speaking in a paid online Masterclass focused on managing grief, the Duke of Sussex described the physical toll of stepping away. He and his wife, Meghan, had traveled to Vancouver Island to escape the intense pressure of royal life. But the sudden peace brought an unexpected shock.
The ‘Adrenaline Crash’
“Being in Canada, away from the stressful environment where presumably my body was just pumped full of adrenaline, within two or three days, I experienced this adrenaline crash,” Harry explained. He admitted he had never felt anything like it before.
The drop in stress hormones left him feeling completely paralyzed at home. “It was as if I needed stress in order to get the adrenaline to make my brain function,” he said, adding that he felt “useless around the house.” For a fortnight, he struggled simply to get through the day, realizing his body was addicted to the constant fight-or-flight state of his previous life.
The revelations come shortly after Harry and Meghan returned to live in the UK. After six years in California, the couple and their children—seven-year-old Prince Archie and five-year-old Princess Lilibet—are now believed to be residing in the Cotswolds. The duke also shared that he maintains a strict rule never to spend more than 10 days apart from his family.
Processing Years of Blocked Grief
During the video session, which was filmed in California over the summer, Harry also spoke candidly about his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. He was just 12 when she died in 1997. For nearly twenty years after her funeral, he found himself unable to cry.
Instead, he chose to run. Harry served two tours of duty in Afghanistan during his 20s. He admitted he went to war hoping to “outrun” his internal trauma.
“I’d spent so long emotionally numb,” Harry said. He explained that he felt “disloyal and guilty” at the thought of finding joy without his mother. “I felt like I had to be sad and I had to be emotionally numb in order to prove to her that I missed her.”
The breakthrough came through therapy. A counselor suggested he spray Diana’s perfume to trigger his blocked emotions. The sensory memory helped him finally process his grief, allowing him to realize his mother would have wanted him to live a happy life.
Neuroscientist Mary-Frances O’Connor, a University of Arizona professor who also took part in the class, shed light on why grief is so difficult to navigate. “Your brain doesn’t register your loved one as gone—it registers them as lost,” O’Connor explained. She added that the mind continues to search for the deceased, expecting them to walk through the door at any moment.