Princess Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton says royals have a ‘history’ of seeking help for mental health issues dating back to Princess Margaret and is ‘baffled’ by Meghan Markle’s claim that she couldn’t get support
- Andrew Morton says the Queen sought professional help during Annus horribilis
- Princess Margaret reportedly underwent psychological counselling in the 1970s
- Diana’s biographer called Meghan’s admission ‘very sad’ and he was ‘baffled’
- Duchess of Sussex says she was refused help with her mental health from palace
Princess Diana’s biographer claims that the royal family has a ‘history’ of seeking help from professional bodies for psychological issues.
Andrew Morton, who famously penned Princess Diana’s blockbuster biography in 1992, revealed that the Queen herself received help with ‘breathing and relaxing’ during her Annus horribilis in 1992.
He also pointed to Princess Margaret, who reportedly sought the help of a Harley Street psychologist for depression during her ailing marriage to Antony Armstrong Jones in the 1970s.
Appearing on Lorraine today, he admitted that he was ‘baffled’ by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in which the Duchess of Sussex claimed concerns about her mental health were ignored.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey saw the Duchess of Sussex claim concerns about her mental health were ignored
Princess Diana’s biographer claimed on Lorraine today that the royal family has a ‘history’ of seeking help from professional bodies for psychological issues
‘It’s from a generation where – if its cold, put on a sweater, don’t turn up the heating -make do and mend, people didn’t talk about mental illness.
‘But having said that, Margaret did go for psychological counselling and even the Queen herself during her Annus horribilis had someone to help her with breathing and relaxing.
‘So in a funny kind of way the royal family have a history of going for help from professional bodies for psychological issues they face.’
Andrew went on to admit he was left with ‘more questions than answers’ after the bombshell interview.
He pointed to Princess Margaret, who reportedly sought the help of a Harley Street psychologist for depression during her ailing marriage to Antony Armstrong Jones in the 1970s
‘That was a very sad admission’, said Morton. ‘But it left far more questions than answers.
‘Especially as Harry is a patron of a mental health organisation, his godmother, Julia Samuel, is a well-known psychotherapist, she’s on speed dial. So it left me baffled that assertion.’
During the interview, Meghan, 39, said that she later reached out to one of the best friends of Diana, Princess of Wales, amid her mental health battle, because she felt unsupported by the palace.
Meghan tearfully revealed that the stress of royal life made her suicidal when she was five months pregnant in the tell-all interview earlier this month.
The Duchess of Sussex told Oprah she ‘couldn’t be left alone’ and told her husband she ‘didn’t want to be alive anymore’ before claiming the Buckingham Palace HR department ignored her plea for help because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’.
Meghan cited this event at the Royal Albert Hall in January 2019, claiming she was forced to go when struggling with her mental health
Describing how she considered ending her life believing it ‘was better for everyone’, Meghan said: ‘I knew that if I didn’t say it, that I would do it. I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought.
‘I remember how he just cradled me. I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help. I said that ‘I’ve never felt this way before, and I need to go somewhere’. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution’.
She said that after confiding in her husband, she was forced to go to the Royal Albert Hall for a charity event in January 2019, claiming photos from that night ‘haunt me’.
She said: ‘When I joined that family, that was the last time I saw my passport, my driving licence, my keys – all of that gets turned over’. Meghan said Harry had ‘saved my life’ by agreeing to move to Los Angeles.
Princess Margaret is said to have suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of her collapsing marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon. Pictured, the pair in 1970
Princess Margaret faced her own battles with mental health, receiving therapy from psychiatrist Mark Collins of the Priory Clinic for depression.
The royal is said to have suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of her collapsing marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon.
In the mid-1960s, as her marriage began to fall apart, Margaret’s mental health troubles took a more serious turn, with friends observing the princess was smoking and drinking excessively.
She reportedly overdosed on sleeping pills during after lover Roddy Llewellyn walked out on her for a trip abroad in 1974.
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