Ever wondered what it must be like to count the Duke and Duchess of Sussex among your friends? Well, author Bryony Gordon is one of the lucky few, and opened up about her relationship with the royal couple during Monday's episode of Loose Women. Bryony spoke to Prince Harry about mental health last year on her podcast Mad World, and was quizzed about what he is like by the panellists. "It's like chatting with a mate on the sofa with a cup of tea," Bryony revealed, adding that she had asked the royal if she could call him "Hazza", to which he reluctantly agreed.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been praised for being so down-to-earth
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Bryony has also had lunch with Meghan, describing the former actress as "completely normal" and recalling her surprise that they had gone to a restaurant, just like anyone else. "She is beautiful, graceful, lovely," she said, although when asked by Saira Khan if they had talked about Meghan's father Thomas Markle – who has been making headlines recently - she said they hadn't. "We spoke about yoga, she loves running," Bryony revealed. The kind-hearted royal even offered to share her food during their meal. "She offered me some of her monkfish," Bryony added.
Harry has previously opened up to Bryony about his own battles with his mental health following the death of his mother at the age of 12. Chatting on the podcast in April 2017, the Prince spoke about how he had chosen to shut down his emotions rather than dealing with his grief. "I can safely say losing my mum at the age of 12 and then shutting down all my emotions for the next 20 years has a serious impact on not only my personal life but my work as well," he said. "And it was only three years ago from the support around and my brother as well that I realised it wasn’t normal to deal with this, and to think nothing has affected you."
Author Bryony Gordon was chatting about her friendship with the royals on Loose Women
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"My way of dealing with it was sticking my head in the sand and not thinking about my mum because why would that help? It's going to make me sad and not bring her back," he added. Harry – who at the time would have been dating Meghan – then went on to say that he now felt in a great place in both his work and personal life as a result of talking about his emotions.
"Yes, I am Prince, I have a house over my head, I have security, I have a car, I have a job that I absolutely love, but previous to that I had a job that I loved too. But because of the process I have been through over the past two or three years I have now been able to take my work seriously and my private life seriously too and put blood, sweat and tears into the things that I think really matter and will make a difference to everyone else. Things like Invictus Games wouldn’t have come off the ground if I hadn’t have dealt with all that stuff beforehand," he said.