Prince Harry accuses Royal Family of ‘total neglect’ in mental health documentary

The Duke of Sussex has accused the royal family of “total neglect” in his new mental health documentary series with Oprah Winfrey.

Prince Harry spoke of the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, as well as the online attacks against him and his wife, Meghan Markle in Apple TV’s The Me You Can’t See series.

‘Total neglect’

The Duke told Winfrey his family did not speak about Diana’s death and expected him to just deal with the resulting press attention and mental distress.

The Princess of Wales died in a car crash while being pursued by photographers in Paris in August 1997.

The Duke told US talk show Winfrey that he used to drink a week's worth of alcohol in a day to try to deal with the trauma of his mother's death.

Harry also said that when he tried to get assistance from his family with the attacks levelled at him and his wife, Meghan Markle, online, that “every single ask, request, warning, whatever it is, to stop just got met with total silence or total neglect.”

“We spent four years trying to make it work. We did everything that we possibly could to stay there and carry on doing the role and doing the job,” he added.

The Duke said he did not go to his family when Meghan felt suicidal because he was ashamed the situation had gotten “that bad”, and also suspected the royals would not have been able to help.

He said: “That was one of the biggest reasons to leave, feeling trapped and feeling controlled through fear, both by the media and by the system itself which never encouraged the talking about this kind of trauma.

“Certainly now I will never be bullied into silence,” Harry added.