Prince Harry has opened up about the pain of losing his mother, and the physical impact her death had on him as a child. Speaking in a new interview for Forces TV with good friend and Paralympic medal winner Dave Henson, Harry revealed he suffered from panic attacks in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death. "In my case, suit and tie, every time I was in any room with loads of people, which is quite often, I was just pouring with sweat, like heart beating – boom, boom, boom, boom – and literally like a washing machine," the 32-year-old Prince admitted. "I was like, 'Oh my God, get me out of here now.' Oh hang on, I can't get out of here, I have got to just hide it."
Prince Harry pictured with his late mother Princess Diana
Harry, who has previously revealed that he sought professional help for his mental health issues when he was about 28 years old, also described how serving in Afghanistan forced him to deal with his unprocessed grief. "If you lose your mum at the age of 12, you have got to deal with it," Harry said. "The idea that 20 years later I still hadn't really… that 15, 17 years later I still hadn't dealt with it. Afghan was the moment where I was like, 'Right, deal with it.'"
He continued, "Once I plucked my head out of the sand, post-Afghan… it had a huge life changing moment for me. It was like, right, you are… Prince Harry, you can do this, as long are you're not a complete tit, then you're gonna be able to get that support, because you've got the credibility of 10 years' service and therefore, you can really make a difference."
Harry said that serving in Afghanistan helped him deal with his unprocessed grief
Harry also said that meeting people who had suffered through the same trauma helped him to cope. "There's similarities there and you can help them and you can have a bit of banter," he said. "And the moment you have that banter, you can see them relax. You help yourself, so you can help others. And I think that is hugely powerful." He added: 'When you can get your own head and self back on the right path, the amount of people you can help is unbelievable, because you can tell the signs in people. You can see it in their eyes. You can see it in them, their reactions."