From drinking to drugs: 7 revelations by Prince Harry in his new docuseries

Prince Harry isn’t holding back and his new docuseries ‘The Me You Can’t See’ is the safe space he seems to have created to speak out of the trauma he has faced as a British royal, starting with the horrific death of his mother, Princess Diana.

The new Apple+ series, which he is co-producing with media mogul Oprah Winfrey, sees the duo, along with some other famous faces, discuss openly about mental health. Prince Harry, who has admitted to a rift with his family, lays his emotions bare in the series with a few alarming and thought-provoking revelations.

Princess Diana’s death: The very public death of Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in August 1997, left a lasting impact on an impressionable Prince Harry. The young prince recalled sitting in a car with his mother when he was a child, being chased by the paparazzi and watching Diana unable to drive clearly with tear blurring her vision. He was helpless then and once again when he joined the funeral procession of his mother that summer morning. “It was like I was outside of my body and just walking along, doing what was expected of me, showing one tenth of the emotion that everyone was showing,” he said. Prince Harry would then avoid talking about her or thinking about her death as a coping mechanism, until it all came crashing down on him in his 20s.

Facing the cameras: "I was so angry with what happened to her (Diana) and the fact there was no justice at all... the same people that chased her through that tunnel photographed her dying on the back seat of that car,” Prince Harry said in the documentary. “The clicking of cameras, and the flash of cameras makes my blood boil. It makes me angry. It takes me back to what happened to my mum, what I experienced as a kid.” Even now, at age 36, he admits that returning to London makes him feel tense and hunted.

Turning to drinking and drugs: Princess Diana’s death in 1997, when Prince Harry was just 12-years-old, has affected the young royal deeply, if his recent statements are anything to go by. In a new interview from the series, Prince Harry admits he tuned to alcohol and drugs to dull the pain. “I was willing to drink, I was willing to take drugs, willing to try and do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling.” While not specifying the drugs he had consumed, Prince Harry didn’t hold back on his benders. “"I would probably drink a week’s worth in one day on a Friday or a Saturday night and I would find myself drinking not because I was enjoying it but because I was trying to mask something,” adding that that period in his life in his late 20s and early 30s was a “nightmare.”

Dealing with anxiety and panic attacks: The public scrutiny was too much for a young, grieving child to bear following the death of his mother and Prince Harry admits he was faced with anxiety and panic attacks in the aftermath, which grew over the years as working member of the royal family. Prince Harry told Winfrey that he started seeing a therapist four years ago to save his relationship with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Meghan’s suicidal thoughts: It was in March when the bombshell interview given by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to Winfrey saw the world learn that Meghan had been harbouring suicidal thoughts when she was pregnant with their son Archie. Prince Harry spoke in detail of that time to Winfrey in the series. “I was ashamed to go to my family because, to be honest with you, like a lot of other people my age probably relate to, I know that I'm not going to get from my family what I need,” he said. After mustering up the courage to ask for help, Prince Harry felt letdown. “I thought my family would help but every single ask, request, warning, whatever it is, just got met with total silence or total neglect. We spent four years trying to make it work. We did everything we possibly could to stay there.”

Fear of losing Meghan: At one point in the series, Prince Harry talks about his very real fear of losing Meghan the way he lost his mother. “My mother was chased to her death when she was in a relationship with someone who wasn't white, and now look what's happened. You're talking about history repeating itself? They're not going to stop until she dies," he said. “"It's incredibly triggering to potentially lose another woman in my life.”

Leaving England: Since stepping back from their royal duties last year, Prince Harry and Meghan have spoken openly about their strained relationship with the rest of Britain's royal family, most notably in an explosive televised interview with Winfrey earlier this year. “It’s incredibly sad,” Prince Harry said in the documentary released, referring to the decision by the couple to leave Britain and their work in the royal family behind them. “But I have no regrets at all.” Optimists are hopeful the royal baby that Prince Harry and Meghan are expecting could help heal the rift.