Prince Harry opens up in an online therapy session. Video / DailyMail
Prince Harry says he “smothers” his two children with love so they won’t be doomed to experience his “traumas”.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, said he showers his son Archie, 3, and 20-month-old daughter Lilibet with love during an online chat with trauma expert Dr Gabor Maté, 79, in a discussion that took in his mental health and drug use.
He made the revelation about the children he shares with his wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, 41, when Dr Maté referred to a passage in the royal’s memoir Spare, released in January. The passage details Harry being told about his mum Princess Diana’s death by his father, then-Prince Charles, when Harry was 12.
Dr Maté says: “When I read that passage in the book, where you find out about your mother’s death... you’re alone in your room.
”And your father comes in to tell you the news. He touches you on the knee, I think in an encouraging fashion, and says, ‘It’s going to be okay’, and walks out, and you’re left on your own.
”And what struck me in that passage, as in so many other passages in the book, is the lack of touching, the lack of a child being held. How at some point, you wanted to hug your grandmother, and you held yourself back because it wasn’t done.”
Prince Harry detailed the lack of warmth from his father, King Charles, when he broke the news to him that his mother, Princess Diana, had been killed. Photo / Getty Images
Dr Maté went on to describe the lack of touching among the royals as ”multi-generational”, adding: “So what is it about the lack of holding and touching and cuddling in his family – and it’s obviously multi-generational – and how do you think that affects a young child now that you are a father yourself?”
Harry started his response by joking: “Well you’re the professional, you can tell me.”
But he added: “It leaves me in a position now, as a father to two kids of my own, making sure that I smother them with love and affection.
”Not smother them to the point where they’re trying to get away... but in the sense that...as a father, [I] feel a huge responsibility to ensure that I don’t pass on any traumas...or any negative experiences that I had as a kid or as a man growing up.
”And that’s putting in the work, and that’s daily being conscious of my behaviour and my reactions to both of my kids.”
Harry also said he feels “slightly different” to the rest of his family, adding: “I felt strange being in this container, and I know that my mum felt the same so it makes sense to me.”
A royal biographer has claimed Prince Harry sees Meghan Markle as "an alternative" to his mother Princess Diana. Photo / Getty Images
He added: “We only know what we know, and for myself and my wife we do the best we can as parents – learning from our own past and overlapping those mistakes, perhaps, and growing... to break that cycle… people have said that my wife saved me, I was stuck in this world and she was from a different world and helped draw me out of that.
”But none of the elements of my life would have been possible without me seeing it for myself. My partner is an exceptional human being and I am grateful of the space that she’s given to me.”
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