Prince Harry Gets Candid On Life As A Royal—Says It Was A "Cycle of Pain and Suffering"

Prince Harry has said that he was caught in a cycle of "pain and suffering" in the British royal family and has made significant hints that he was highly critical of the way his father raised him in a new interview that has been released. 

Prince Harry recently sat down with Dax Shephard, the host of the podcast, Armchair Expert to talk to him about his life. The episode was released this week and it was certainly candid and revealing.

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During the episode, the prince shared sordid details about his personal life growing up in the royal family as well as how he was brought up by his father, Prince Charles.

When discussing his upbringing, Harry said: "When it comes to parenting, if I've experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I'm going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don't pass it on."

"It's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say 'You know what, that happened to me, I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen to you'," he added.

Harry continued by saying that as he got older, he began to realise that his father, who apparently stopped taking Harry's calls since he stopped working for the royal family, was only raising him the way he himself was raised when he was younger. 

"I never saw it, I never knew about it, and then suddenly I started to piece it together and go 'OK, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he's treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?'" Harry mused.

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During the interview, Harry also delved into his past where he was well-known for being rebellious and making headlines for his partying and stunts such as going nude at one point during a trip to Las Vegas. He outlined how hard he struggled with being a responsible member of the royal family and also balancing growing up. 

"I don't want this job, I don't want to be here, I don't want to be doing this, look what it did to my mum," Harry lamented.

Harry then moved on to talk about the British press and said that it was like "living in the zoo". He said: "It's a mix between The Truman Show and being in a zoo," he said. The Truman Show is a film that stars Jim Carrey and features a man who lives his life with no idea that he is living on a television set and that he is being recorded. 

He admitted that the media situation has certainly improved for him and his family since they moved to California after Harry and Meghan announced that they would be stepping back from their royal duties and would not be returning as working members of the royal family. 

"Living here now I can actually lift my head and actually I feel different... you can walk around feeling a little bit more free. I get to take Archie on the back of my bicycle... I would never have had the chance to do that."

Harry also took the opportunity to discuss mental health and the changing attitudes towards it that he was noticing. Mental health is something the prince is passionate about.

In fact, he is currently working on a documentary series with Oprah Winfrey called The Me You Can't See. The series aims to lift the veil on the current state of mental and emotional wellbeing in society.

"Speaking out, especially now in today's world, is a sign of strength rather than a sign of weakness," he said before arguing that mental health is actually public health. "Two of the biggest issues that we're facing in today's world, I think, is the climate crisis and mental health, and they're both intrinsically linked," he said.

He continued by saying: "If we neglect our collective well-being, then we're screwed, basically, because if we can't look after ourselves, we can't look after each other. If we can't look after each other then we can't look after this home that we all inhabit, so it's all part of the same thing."

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