Prince Harry says he ‘unravelled’ after Afghanistan excursions in new Netflix documentary
Speaking in his new Netflix docuseries, Heart of Invictus, the Duke of Sussex mentioned he felt like there was no-one round to assist, and that he didn’t have the “support structure” to manage.
He mentioned that mental illness was a “dirty word” when he joined the army, and that he hopes to interrupt the stigma along with his campaigning now.
“I can only speak for my personal experience, my tour of Afghanistan in 2012 flying Apaches, somewhere after that there was an unravelling and the trigger for me was actually returning from Afghanistan,” he said.
“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 – and I suppressed it like most youngsters would have done but 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.’”
Prince Harry at the Netflix screening
/ Instagram/@dtopk9The documentary, which was launched in the UK at 8am on Wednesday, follows a group of service members on their road to the paralympic-style sporting competition which Harry set up in 2014 for injured and sick military personnel and veterans.
During a special screening of the five-part series in California, Harry emerged to introduce it, to the surprise of the audience.
In a video circulating on social media, Harry was heard talking about the sacrifices that veterans and their families make while serving their country.
In the first 45-minute episode of the series, Army veteran Harry, who undertook two tours of Afghanistan, discusses how he never wanted to serve in the armed Forces as a father, saying: “It’s never the individual signing up – it’s the whole family signing up.”
When asked what he does in the documentary, he replied: “What do I do? Er… on any given day, I’m a dad of two under-three-year-olds.
“I’ve got a couple of dogs. (I’m) A husband. I’m founding patron of Invictus Games Foundation.
“There’s lots of hats that one wears, but I believe today is all about Invictus.”
The duke was government producer of the collection, which kinds a part of the Sussexes’ multi million-pound cope with Netflix – with their foremost output to date being final 12 months’s controversial Harry & Meghan documentary.
The six-part collection final December noticed the duke and duchess make clear their troubled life throughout the royal household.