Prince Harry disclosed during an episode on MasterClass that he experienced depression for two weeks after moving from the UK to Canada in 2019. The Prince discussed his mental health struggles, including feeling emotionally numb following the death of his mother, Princess Diana, and how military experiences triggered earlier traumas. He also highlighted the physiological effects of grief, noting that simple tasks like putting on a collar could trigger panic attacks due to accumulated stress and trauma.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Prince Harry revealed in a new MasterClass session on coping with grief that he "slipped into depression" for about two weeks after relocating from the UK to Canada in late 2019 with wife Meghan and their son Prince Archie. Harry, now 42, stated during his interview with neuroscientist Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor that he experienced an "adrenaline crash," feeling unable to function without stress-induced adrenaline once removed from the stressful environment of royal duties. He also discussed feeling emotionally numb for years following his mother Princess Diana's death in 1997, only later realizing she would have wanted him to be happy. Harry and Meghan moved to Montecito, California, but recently returned to the UK with their children Archie (now seven) and Lilibet (five), after six years away. The Duke of Sussex was reportedly paid around $100,000 for his MasterClass session on grief and mental health struggles.
Written for “Prince Harry Depression After Royal Exit” on 2026-10-09,
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Prince Harry has revealed that he “slipped into depression” for about two weeks after relocating to Canada from the U.K. in 2019.
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he → reveal → 2019
The Prince opened up about his mental health during an episode on the online educational platform, MasterClass.
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Prince → open → platform
It’s part of a course designed to help people coping with grief.
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Harry and his wife, Meghan, welcomed their son Archie in May 2019, spending the end of that year in Canada.
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Harry → welcome → Canada
They eventually moved to California, with Harry and Meghan giving up their royal duties.
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Harry → move → duties
However, they announced last month they were returning to the UK with their children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, after six years in the U.S., reports the BBC.
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BBC → announce → U.S.
Harry described being in Canada, away from the stress of his life in Britain, when he experienced an adrenaline crash.
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he → describe → crash
“I actually slipped into depression for about two weeks.
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I → slip → weeks
I felt like I couldn’t function without the adrenaline,” he revealed.
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he → feel → adrenaline
Harry also said that he felt “emotionally numb” after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, because he felt “disloyal and guilty for the possibility of being happy and joyful without her.”
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he → say → her
During the MasterClass session, Harry said he struggled to process his grief in the years after the death of his mother when he was 12.
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he → say → mother
He recounted that after crying at Diana’s funeral, he did not cry for nearly two decades, adding that a therapist suggested he spray Diana’s perfume to “unlock everything.”
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The MasterClass also featured Mary-Frances O’Connor, a neuroscientist and University of Arizona professor who told Harry: “Your brain doesn’t register your loved one as gone.
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brain → feature → one
It registers them as lost.
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And it will keep searching until you teach it otherwise.
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you → keep → it
We still expect that they’re going to walk through the door.”
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they → expect → door
The course is titled ‘Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss,’ It explores the effects of grief on the brain and body through Harry’s experience of losing his mother.
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“Grief is physiological as well as emotional, and what we know from research is that there are very common responses to the loss of someone important in our life,” O’Connor says in the episode.
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O’Connor → know → episode
After returning from his second tour in Afghanistan in 2013, Harry said he began to see that his military experiences triggered earlier trauma.
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experiences → return → trauma
“The things that I saw, the things I experienced, appeared to be a trigger for other traumas that had stored themselves within me,” he says.
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he → see → me
“I started to realize that I probably had become seriously depleted when just putting a simple dress shirt on — the tightening of the collar — literally felt like I was suffocating, and I would be experiencing panic attacks just in the car on the way to work,” he recalled.
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he → start → work
“And that’s when I realized, ‘Okay, there’s something bigger, there’s something else that you need to look into here.’
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O’Connor speaks in the session about how prolonged stress can affect the body.
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stress → speak → body
She compared the nervous system to parts of a car, and cortisol to its fuel injection system.
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Harry also said he eventually came to the realization that his mother “just wanted me to be happy.
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me → say → realization
It freed me, and it gave me a whole different outlook on life.
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it → free → life
He said his charitable work gives him a meaningful way to carry Diana’s legacy.
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work → say → legacy
It has been released ahead of World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, and will benefit two bereavement charities, Comfort Zone Camp and Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity for which Harry is a global ambassador.
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Harry → release → which
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