Prince William has opened up about his personal mental health struggles, recalling one traumatic incident he didn't think he would “ever get over”.
The 36-year-old royal took part in a panel discussion about mental health on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
During the talk, William spoke candidly to the audience of business leaders about his own experiences with mental health in a bid to highlight the important role employers play in promoting healthy workplaces.
Recalling one particular incident when he worked as an ambulance pilot, William said if he didn’t have supportive colleagues to turn to about the situation, he would likely have “gone down a slippery slope” mentally.
“I still find it very difficult to talk about it,” the father-of-three said.
“I get very emotional about it because it relates very closely to my children and so it is very hard to talk about it.
“I know that if I hadn’t taken the action that I did then, I would have definitely gone down a slippery slope and I would have been dealing with mental illness on a different level.”
Despite his struggles, the royal insisted that such feelings were “only human”, adding: “Yes, you put a suit of armour on… but one day something comes along closely related to your own personal life and it really takes you over a line.“
William also called on the public to “get over” the stigma of mental health – something he says started with the wartime generation.
“For some reason, people are embarrassed about their emotions - British people particularly,” he said.
He explained that the British stiff upper lip, which was common after the First and Second world wars, was passed onto children and so it became difficult for people to talk about “such horrendous circumstances”.
“A whole generation inherited [this way of coping]. This was the way you deal with your problems: you don't talk about it.”
However, William added that people are now becoming more aware of the importance of discussing mental health.
“I think now, there’s a generation finally realising that this is not normal, we should talk about it, we should get over [the stigma],” he said.
“We’ve got to start tackling it now so that our children and grandchildren don’t have to go through this process, and they can be a lot more open about it.”
This isn’t the first time the royal has opened about his mental health. In 2017, William discussed the impact that child accidents had on him in his role as an air ambulance pilot, admitting they left him feeling “very sad” and “very down”.
He also revealed he needed counselling after struggling to come to terms with the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
