Every one of us suffers some way or the other from mental health problems. But, when it comes to the royal family, it really is a hard thing to digest that they can face problems with anything. You might say this is stereotyping but think about it. But then again if that royal member concerned is Prince William and Prince Harry, that's when you realise that some things never come back and no matter how well cushioned you are in your life, some vacancies can never be filled up.
Last year in November, at the This Can Happen conference, Prince William for the first time opened up about his mental health problems. a And a few days back, Prince William talked about it again but this time not to a crowd of eager listeners but to a person who really needed to hear it. The Duke of Cambridge visited Pall Mall Barbers in London and there he met Ken Hermes, a hairdresser turned mental health campaigner. During the prince's royal visit, Hermer got all emotional and opened himself up to the Duke, hoping that he would understand.
Did he?
Mr Hermes was just 15 years old when he lost his father to suicide. And that is where the prince connected with him. The hairdresser shared with him an "understanding" about mental health issues, and how they both connected, especially when you lose one of your parents at a very young age. "It was the proudest moment of my life... When I told William my story, he was clearly taken aback. I told him, 'Look, we've both been through hell and back but when you lose somebody to suicide it means you spend your life looking for answers,'" Hermes told Express.
Hermes also related to the royal family about being parents and they both talked about how important it is to open up to their children. "We spoke about the pressure of being dads. He said that we tend the father the way we've been fathered but that it's important to break out of that cycle," Hermes said.
Going back to that conference, Prince William had also reflected upon the same topic when he said, "The relation between the job and the personal life was what really took me over the edge, And I started feeling things that I've never felt before. And I got very sad and very down about this particular family." This was the Prince talking about mental pressure that he faced when he became a father.
Even Prince Harry had opened up about seeking therapeutic help when he lost his mother, Princess Diana, "I can safely say that losing my mom at the age of 12 and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years has had quite a serious effect on not only my personal life but also my work as well," he said on Mad World Podcast in April 2017.
The trio, i.e. William, Harry and Kate spearheaded the Heads together campaign that aims to spread awareness about mental health problems.
