Prince William told BBC he worries for his grandparents, the Queen and Prince Philip. Photo / BBC
Prince William told BBC he worries for his grandparents, the Queen and Prince Philip. Photo / BBC
The Duke of Cambridge has spoken of his fears for the Queen and Prince Philip during the coronavirus pandemic, saying the family is doing everything they can to shelter them but admitting: "It does worry me."
Prince William and wife Kate have opened up about the difficulty of life in lockdown and revealed they told their children a lie and kept schooling them through the Easter holiday.
In a new interview with the BBC about the pandemic, mental health and the NHS, the royal couple said there is an "ever-increasing need" for people to know where to access help and support for their mental wellbeing during this "stressful" period.
"If we are going to go forward with more time spent in lockdown, then there is going to be an ever-increasing need for people to look after their mental health"
"I think very carefully about my grandparents who are the age they are at.
"We are doing everything we can to make sure that they are isolated away and protected from this.
"But it does worry me, you know, what's going to happen to a lot of the vulnerable people and the high-risk people who are going to potentially have to isolate away for quite some time, and the impact that's going to have on them and on families up and down the country having to do that."
Kate also admitted the difficulty of trying to schoolchildren at home and said: "Don't tell the children, we've actually kept it going through the holidays. I feel very mean. The children have got such stamina, I don't know how. Honestly, you get to the end of the day and you write down the list of all the things that you've done in that day."
She said the family had been through 'ups and downs' during the lockdown period "like lots of other families".
"It gets a bit hectic, I'm not going to lie."
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spoke with BBC about the challenges of lockdown life with three young children. Photo / BBC
The couple urged people to take care of their mental health during Covid-19 lockdown, saying the virus pandemic is "like nothing anyone has ever seen".
"A lot of people won't necessarily have thought about their mental health, maybe ever before. And suddenly this environment we're in catches up on them quite quick," Prince William explained, adding the three-week lockdown in the UK had been "frustrating" for many people and "pressure, stress and isolation" had been building up.
"If we are going to go forward with more time spent in lockdown, then there is going to be an ever-increasing need for people to look after their mental health and take it seriously and also know where to go to get the support they might need."
The Duchess of Cambridge said there had been a lot of focus on people's physical wellbeing – and while this was important, "we mustn't forget our mental wellbeing as well".
Prince William said there was a concern people might think they were "not worthy of support" because of the pressure on services like the NHS during the virus outbreak.
"It's important that other people aren't forgotten and those who do need help, and do need support, and haven't necessarily ever had to think about their mental wellbeing, start to do that in this weird climate we're in," he said.
When asked how he felt when his father, Prince Charles, was diagnosed with the potentially deadly virus – which has infected more than two million people worldwide and killed close to 150,000 – the Duke of Cambridge said at first he was "quite concerned", not just for his father's physical wellbeing, but his mental health as well.
"He fits the profile of somebody of the age he's at, which is, you know, fairly risky. But my father has had many chest infections, colds, things like that over the years and so, I thought to myself, if anybody is going to be able to beat this, it's going to be him."
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 17, 2020
During the interview, the couple also praised NHS workers, saying "the experiences frontline workers are going through now is like nothing that anyone has ever seen".
The Duke said while the "hero tag" attached to them was "totally valid", some staff were understandably anxious and it was important not to alienate those who "worry" and "are scared going to work every single day".
He said workers had to absorb the pain and loneliness of coronavirus patients and "take it home to their families".
"We're not superhuman, any of us. So to be able to manage those emotions and that feeling is going to take some time after all this is over as well."
