Whilst his account is one of being 'spare' to the throne, of unconscious bias in a mixed-race marriage and of tabloid misinterpretation, underlying Prince Harry’s whole story is unresolved grief, whether that be in his memory loss, fears and other mental health challenges, his resorting to drugs to null the pain, or the anger, other heightened feelings and misunderstandings between him and his family.

AtaLoss CEO, Yvonne Tulloch has read the book and she says

This aspect of Prince Harry’s story has been mentioned by him personally and flagged in the media but it’s not something that is generally talked about or known. Unresolved grief is very much part of the account, whether that be in Harry visiting and revisiting the tunnel where Princess Diana died, dreaming that she was still alive because he couldn’t bear the thought of her dying, resorting to drugs to null the pain, anger and guilt, or the heightened feelings and misunderstandings with his family and his mental health challenges.  There is so much that could be said about this. Indeed, the Prince has said himself that knowing what he knows now, he is sure that 99% of the world’s population are weighed down with grief.

In a recent interview with chat show host Stephen Colbert, Prince Harry says being open about grief is not part of British culture and expectations that you have to be strong and brave in bereavement lay behind many of his subsequent mental health issues.

Yvonne is not surprised by what she has read in Prince Harry's book.

This chimes with the campaign AtaLoss has been running for many years. It’s time this country understood grief and its potential - immediately and over the years - for negative outcomes, not least of all mental ill-health and relationship breakdown.  The Royal Family are a classic case of existing issues becoming accentuated by grief and of inevitable consequences.  Prince Harry appears to have tried to deal with his issues and is calling for reconciliation.  This can only be achieved where grief is understood and suppressed grief resolved across the Royal Family. 

Getting appropriate support is clearly part of the step forward towards understanding your grief. To that end, AtaLoss is currently offering The Bereavement Journey to the nation because grief is not generally understood or resolved: 6-7 sessions of films and facilitated discussion, proven to help any individual process grief, however long ago, and to reach a place of healing in their own situation.  Run now by over 180 churches across the UK it is proving popular and very effective in enabling thousands of grieving people, no matter when the loss, to understand themselves and their own situations and to reach a place of healing and hope. 

Explore the www.thebereavementjourney.org.

Or Enrol on the online The Bereavement Journey course run by Yvonne Tulloch, between now and 26^th January.

You can explore Prince Harry's story of grief and buy a copy of 'Spare' on Amazon HERE