The world sees Prince William, much like how we saw Princess Diana – as a wonderful and loving parent.
But like most who have the great responsibility of looking after a child – it takes a toll on your mental health.
Watch in the video below Prince William talk about taking the stigma away from the battles parents face daily – starting with his personal issues.
On Tuesday, the 36-year-old attended the first This Can Happen conference in London alongside friend Neil Laybourn.
Together they highlighted the issue of mental health in males.
The prince touched on the challenging effects working as an air ambulance pilot has had on him.
Recounting about when he and Kate welcomed children of their own, 5-year-old Prince George, 3-year-old Princess Charlotte followed by 7-month-old Prince Louis, some of his “traumatic” jobs that involved kids injured in car accidents took a toll on him.
“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,” he said.
“You start to take away bits of the job and keep them in your body. And of course, you don’t want to share with your loved ones because you just don’t want to bring that sort of stuff home.”
He continued, “So the only place you can talk about it is at work and if you don’t necessarily have the right tools or the right environment at work, you can see why things can snowball and get quite bad.”
William said he was pleased that the military was taking steps to incorporate mental health into their training to deal with the pressure and stress that comes with their jobs.
Laybourn later told reporters, “What the Duke said today took everyone by surprise. Being a guy and being socially conditioned, whether you’re in the royal family or not, to keep in your feelings and then beat that to speak about them is great.”
He added, “It’s quite something for him, in his position, to say, ‘You’re not infallible.’ People need that inspiration from leaders and they need to hear it from someone like Prince William.”
William emphasized the importance of taking mental health seriously.
“We all have mental health. Just as we look after our physical health, we look after our mental health,” said the royal father of three.
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