How Harry dismantled the royal smokescreen during Australian tour

“Never complain, never explain.” This is one of the most famous public relations strategies used by the Royal Family and was used by the late Queen Elizabeth II. It was made famous by Elizabeth.

His grandson Harry, who joined his wife Meghan on a whirlwind trip to Australia, has spent the last four days challenging that status quo.

This week the Duke of Sussex gave Australians a behind-the-scenes look at his now private life, revealing some deeply personal insights into his relationship with his father and how Princess Diana’s death affected his view of the Royal Family.

From the outside, it looked like any other semi-royal tour; The couple walk hand in hand, smiling and waving to the cameras as they are taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital, Swinburne University of Technology and complete cultural walks along the Yarra river (Birrarung).

He’s not the first member of the Royal Family to put the challenges of mental health under the spotlight; His brother William recently revealed his mental health had “deteriorated” while working for the Air Ambulance.

Generally speaking, members of the Firm prefer to remain silent about the public impact of their roles, instead channeling their energies into their official duties.

It appears that Harry, who along with Meghan stepped down from official royal duties and relinquished their status as Royal Highnesses in 2020, is shattering his family’s once unbreakable public relations strategy.

Not only does she rid herself of her HRH title, she also strips away the stoic spirit that her grandmother had cemented decades ago.

She can now talk openly about her experience as a working Royal, the impact it has had on her life and why there is no weakness in vulnerability.

Next year marks 30 years since the death of her mother, the iconic Diana, who died in a horrific car crash in Paris in 1997.

Speaking at the InterEdge Summit in Melbourne on Thursday, Harry revealed his sudden death shortly before his 13th birthday had led him to reconsider his role in the Royal Family.

“I don’t want this job. I don’t want this role; wherever this goes, I don’t like it,” he said in Melbourne.

“He killed my mother and I was very against it and buried my head in the sand for years.”

Despite his privileged position as both a public figure and a private citizen, he admitted that he sometimes felt “powerless” and “lost”, left with no choice but to “show up and pretend everything was fine.”

This wasn’t the first time the duke showed his vulnerable side during his brief visit.

During a panel hosted by men’s mental health charity Movember on Wednesday, Harry revealed he started therapy before his two children, Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4, were born.

He said the sessions offered him the chance to “clear the past”.

“From a therapy standpoint, you definitely want to be the best version of yourself for your kids,” she said.

“And I knew that there were things from the past that I needed to deal with, and so I prepared myself to basically cleanse myself of the past.”

Frailty continued throughout the journey; Harry admitted there were moments when he found himself “in a fetal position on the kitchen floor” as feelings of grief, hopelessness and uncertainty washed over him.

Speaking of fatherhood, his own father is King Henry III. He also made rare statements about Charles.

On Wednesday, Harry said there were fundamental changes in the way people approach parenting and that children should be an “upgrade” of their parents.

“I’m not saying I’m an upgrade on my father or that my kids are an upgrade on me,” he said.

He praised the conversations parents now have with their children that “never existed” with their own parents forty years ago.

“This is just one example of the conversations that are happening in homes right now between kids and their parents that never happened between me and my family,” he said.

However, he emphasized that there was no room for judgment.

“No judgment, no blame, no finger pointing,” he said.

“The truth is, no matter how you parent, it’s a personal experience for you, and you’ll want to build on that.”

He said the Crown’s “never complain, never explain” strategy wasn’t working when it came to fatherhood.

“One of the biggest shifts for me happened when I realized that asking for help is not a weakness,” he told the audience.

“This is very much a form of power.”