Prince Harry believes his time as a soldier in Afghanistan helped him to cope with his mother’s death.
The 32-year-old royal was only 12 years old when he lost his parent Princess Diana in 1997 aged 36 years old, and he has admitted for many years he struggled to come to terms with the loss, until he joined the British Army and served as a lieutenant in the Iraq war in 2007 and again in 2012, which forced him to "deal" with the tragedy.
Speaking about his coping mechanism with Paralympian Dave Henson for Forces TV show ‘Prince Harry: My Journey’, the flame-haired hunk said: "I’ve got plenty of issues but none of them really relate to Afghanistan, but Afghanistan was the thing that triggered everything else.
"Not to get too personal, if you lose your mum at the age of 12 then you’ve got to deal with it and the idea that … 15, 17 years later I still hadn’t dealt with it, Afghan was the moment. I was like ‘right – deal with it.’"
Harry was forced to quit the army after his second tour in Afghanistan, which encouraged him to create the annual Paralympic sporting extravaganza the Invictus Games.
And Harry – who is currently dating ‘Suits’ actress Meghan Markle – has revealed by speaking to contestants taking part in the multi-sporting games has "healed" him.
He explained: "Going through Invictus and speaking to all the guys about their issues has really healed me and helped me.
"For me, Invictus has been a sort of cure for myself … There was many times in my early life and also many times in Afghan and coming back from Afghan when you actually feel helpless.
"Once I plucked my head out of the sand, post-Afghan … It had a huge, life changing moment for me as well–‘Right, you are Prince Harry, you can do this, as long as you’re not a complete tit, then you’re going to be able to get that support, because you’ve got the credibility of 10 years’ service and therefore, you can really make a difference’."
Prince Harry believes his time in Afghanistan helped him cope with mother’s death
