Prince William, Prince Harry and Kate Middleton have made an important and influential video of them speaking candidly about mental health.
The young royals uploaded the short film to The Royal Family Facebook page, as part of the Heads Together campaign’s #OkToSay series.
The three of them discussed the pressures of modern life in an incredibly relatable way, highlighting how modern pressures including social media can be damaging because, as Harry said, ‘it’s always sold as though everybody else’s life is perfect’.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry #OkToSay film
Please take a moment to watch this new film featuring The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry that has been released as part of the Heads Together campaign’s #OkToSay series.
The film captures a conversation between Their Royal Highnesses that occurred at Kensington Palace as they looked ahead to this weekend’s London Marathon and reflected on the growth of the campaign over the last year.
The conversation covers a range of topics including the emotional changes new parents go through, bereavement, the stresses of modern childhood, and dealing with trauma in the workplace.
The Duke and Duchess and Prince Harry are incredibly grateful to everyone who has shared their stories in recent weeks. And having asked others to start conversations on mental health with their friends and families, they wanted to show that they are taking part as well. They hope the film shows how positive a conversation on mental health can be.
#HeadsTogetherPosted by The Royal Family on Friday, April 21, 2017
In the powerful video, Harry explains his thought process with regards to his mother’s death:
I always thought to myself, what’s the point of bringing up the past, what’s the point of bringing up something that’s only going to make you sad? It ain’t going to change it, it ain’t going to bring it back.
And when you start thinking like that it can be really damaging.
Prince William said that ‘You have to prioritise your mental health’, and made the point that although talking about it can be difficult, ‘Someone has to take the lead and be brave enough to force that conversation’.
William said:
We are uniquely bonded because of what we’ve been through, but even Harry and I over the years have not talked enough about our mother.
Together, the three of them have created Heads Together with the aim of helping ‘people feel much more comfortable with their everyday mental wellbeing and have the practical tools to support their friends and family’ as well as to ‘end the stigma and change the conversation on mental health once and for all’.
700 runners will be running for Heads Together, donning a blue headband, at this Sunday’s London Marathon.
As Harry said:
You could draw 150 charities that everybody is running for in a circle and in the middle, will be mental health. It’s the one thing that binds everything together.
Seeing these public figures, who many people look up to and put on a pedestal, in a more human light is incredibly powerful in reducing the stigma around mental health.
When we have a physical ailment, it’s accepted and expected that we would go to a professional to seek help. We need to move towards a society where this is the same for a mental ailment.
