10 Revelations About Prince Harry From Oprah Winfrey's Apple TV+ Series, The Me You Can't See

Harry, who was only 12 when his mother died, revealed that he went through a reckless party phase because of Diana’s death. “I was willing to drink, I was willing to take drugs, I was willing to try and do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling. But I slowly became aware that, Okay, I wasn't drinking Monday to Friday, but I would probably drink a week's worth in one day on a Friday or a Saturday night," the Duke of Sussex revealed on the show. Harry explained that he was “completely unaware of it”. He continued: "And I would find myself drinking, not because I was enjoying it but because I was trying to mask something."

In the documentary, Harry expanded on his previous claims around the effects of his dad Prince Charles’ parenting, originally made on the Armchair Expert podcast. “My father used to say to me when I was younger … ‘Well, it was like that for me, so it’s going to be like that for you,’" the prince told Oprah. Harry explained that his father’s words didn't “make sense" to him. “Just because you suffered, that doesn’t mean that your kids have to suffer, in fact, quite the opposite. If you suffered, do everything you can to make sure that whatever negative experiences that you had, you can make it right for your kids," he added.

The prince said that the happiest time of his life was during the 10 years he spent fighting in Afghanistan. He explained how being in the army got him away from the media spotlight and gave him the chance to be treated like everyone else. He said: “I got to wear the same uniform as everyone else, I had to do all the same training as everyone else, I started from the bottom like everyone else. There was no special treatment because of who I was.”

When Harry and Meghan made their relationship public, they became subject to extreme media attention. As things got worse, Harry asked his family for help. He revealed: "I thought my family would help, but every single ask, request, warning, whatever, it is just got met with total silence, total neglect.” The Duke of Sussex went on to describe how the situation became unbearable for him and Meghan. “We spent four years trying to make it work. We did everything that we possibly could to stay there and carry on doing the role and doing the job. But Meghan was struggling,” he claimed.

Harry told Oprah how he felt a lack of support from the royal family after his mother’s death, because of their own old-fashioned ways. He said: “I wasn't in an environment where it was encouraged to talk about it either, that was kind of squashed. [I needed to speak out for] the past, to heal myself from the past.” The prince accused his family of not even talking about Diana’s death. He explained how he struggled to deal with the increasing media attention at the time, and the resulting mental distress as a young teenager. He revealed how the royals encouraged him to “play the game”.

In early 2020, Harry and Meghan announced that they were stepping away from their royal duties. In the show, Harry revealed that the royal family knew about the announcement and tried to stop him. The Duke of Sussex revealed: "Eventually when I made that decision for my family, I was still told, ‘You can’t do this.’ “And it’s like, ‘Well, how bad does it have to get until I am allowed to do this?’ She [Markle] was going to end her life. It shouldn’t have to get to that."

During the Oprah interview in March, the former actress revealed that she had suicidal thoughts in the year before the departure from her royal duties. In the docu-series, Harry revealed that his wife didn’t act on her suicidal thoughts because she wanted to spare him the pain of another loss, following his mother’s death in 1997. He said: "The thing that stopped her from seeing it through was how unfair it would be on me after everything that had happened to my mum and to now be put in a position of losing another woman in my life, with a baby inside of her, our baby."

In the docuseries, Harry recalled his wife’s reaction to the bullying allegations made against her. In March, Meghan’s former advisors made a bullying complaint against her, as reported by The Times newspaper. Harry described the Duchess of Sussex’ “heartbreaking” reaction to the "combined effort of The Firm and the media to smear her." He recalled: "I was woken up in the middle of the night to her crying in her pillow because she doesn’t want to wake me up because I’m already carrying too much. “That’s heartbreaking. I held her, we talked, she cried, and she cried and she cried.” Meghan’s team has strongly refuted the allegations.

The Duke of Sussex opened up on a number of occasions about his sadness around his mother’s loss. His love for Diana has apparently been picked up by his son, Archie, who chose “grandma” as one of his first words. “I’ve got a photo of [Diana] in his nursery, and it was one of the first words that he said — apart from ‘mama,’ ‘papa,’ it was then ‘grandma.’ Grandma Diana.” Harry said. "It’s the sweetest thing, but at the same time, it makes me really sad because she should be here.”

The Me You Can't See is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Story/Photos: BANG SHOWBIZ, TPG News/Click Photos