Prince Harry reveals he slipped into ‘deep depression for weeks’ after Megxit

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Prince Harry has opened up about not being able to cry for decades after Princess Diana’s death in a revealing interview with a therapist.

The Duke of Sussex spoke of the ‘adrenaline crash’ he felt after Megxit and escaping a ‘stressful environment’ and then suffering depression.

Harry and Meghan recently returned to the UK from California, six years after stepping back from royal duties.

Harry revealed he did not cry for almost 20 years after his mother’s death and thinks of her ‘pretty much every night and then most mornings’.

Opening up on his mother’s death, he said: ‘You would think I had the best help in the world. I’m a prince, for God’s sake, but I was still grieving and didn’t have any place to put those feelings,’ he said, describing emotions he bottled up for ’15 or 20 years’.

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Harry said he finally found happiness with his wife before ‘slipping into depression’ after the couple stepped back from Royal duties under the glare of the media.

Uncleared grabs of Prince Harry on Masterclass talking about grief, credit: Masterclas
Prince Harry opens up about grief and depression (Picture: Masterclass)

‘We moved to Canada to get some space away from everything and simply think,’ he said.

‘Within two or three days of leaving that stressful environment, I experienced an adrenaline crash unlike anything I’d ever felt before.

‘It was as though I needed stress for my brain to function. I became useless around the house. I slipped into depression for about two weeks and felt like I couldn’t function without adrenaline.’

Uncleared grabs of Prince Harry on Masterclass talking about grief, credit: Masterclas
Prince Harry spoke candidly of the mental anguish he has gone through since Princes Diana’s death (Picture: Masterclass)

The duke also addressed his grief for his mother, saying for many years he felt like he had to be sad to prove he missed her.

‘The reality is, what I discovered was actually she just wanted me to be happy,’ he said.

File photo dated 27/03/94 of Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince William (left) and Prince Harry riding in a horse-drawn sleigh as they leave their hotel in Lech, Austria. The 29th anniversary of Diana, Princess of Wales???s death falls on Monday, just days after her youngest son the Duke of Sussex returned home with his family to live in the UK. Issue date: Sunday August 30, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Martin Keene/PA Wire
Prince Harry feared forgetting his mother’s laugh (Picture: Martin Keene/PA Wire)

After fears he would forget his mother’s laugh, a therapist recommended spraying her perfume to allow vivid memories of Diana to resurface.

‘It was like being transported to another time,’ Harry said. ‘It unlocked everything that had been locked away. 

‘Spraying my mother’s scent was almost like knocking certain bricks through so that I could see through and certain memories and experiences could start seeping back.’

Harry also said: ‘Everything I do, everything I put my energy towards, I hope that my mother will be proud of.

FILE PHOTO - The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. // A British-American couple who swapped their life in the US for Yorkshire say they "know how Harry and Meghan feel" as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex prepare to move back to the UK. Tom Bateman, 35, and his American wife Britney, 36, have spent the past six weeks settling into life in Britain with their four children after 17 years living in the US. And as reports emerge that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are also looking to spend more time back in Britain, the couple say they understand the emotional pull of returning home - and the challenges of leaving America behind. Tom, who was born in England, says he can particularly understand Harry's desire to be around the people and culture he grew up with. Photo released 21/08/2026
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, recently returned to the UK (Picture: Paul Davey/SWNS)

‘Trying to continue and protect her legacy, what I didn’t realise was that the work I was drawn to was so similar to the work she was doing.’

Diana’s brother Earl Spencer has spoken of how the treatment of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has ‘echoes’ of what happened to his sister.

‘I think it would be really beholden on people to learn from Diana’s example,’ he told the BBC.

‘I’m not here to speak for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone who’s being destroyed in this way daily, it must be such a cancerous influence in their life.’

Earl Spencer said he had seen Diana’s ‘tears of despair’ over the extensive coverage of her personal life and described her as ‘very, very sensitive to criticism’.

Diana, who married King Charles – then the heir to the throne – in 1981, was subjected to intense public scrutiny throughout her public life.

Earl Spencer said she was ‘really brought low by all that criticism’, adding that it was a ‘pity’ to see ‘echoes of that now’ in the treatment of his nephew and his wife.

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