Prince Harry Breaks Silence on the Pain of Leaving Royal Life

Prince Harry admits to suffering emotional turbulence after leaving his luxe life in England in late 2019 and moving to Canada with wife Duchess Meghan Markle and young son Archie, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

"Being in Canada, away from the stressful environment where presumably my body was just pumped full of adrenaline, within two or three days, I experienced this adrenaline crash, something that I'd never experienced before," recounted the Duke of Sussex, 42.

He continued: "It was as if I needed stress in order to get the adrenaline to make my brain function because I became useless around the house."

"I actually slipped into depression for about two weeks, and I felt like I couldn't function without adrenaline."

Harry explained the move was meant "to get some space away from everything just to be able to think."

But months later, he and former Suits star Markle, 45, announced they were stepping back from their roles as senior working members of the British royal family.

After making California their home in 2020, the couple recently moved back to the U.K. with Archie, now 7, and daughter Lilibet, 5.

The initial move from his birth country came after years of grappling with the grief of losing his beloved mother, Princess Diana, in a 1997 car crash in Paris when he was just 12 years old.

"For 15, 20 years, when I was being asked, 'Are you OK?' My response was, 'I'm fine.' It was numbness, emotional shutdown," Harry shared.

"And without knowing it, adrenaline was pushing me, was driving me."

He also confessed that for years, he had difficulty accepting that his mother was gone and explained: "I believed that she had created this exit to get away from all the things that were destroying her life and that she was gonna reenter the fray in some disguise."

Harry also acknowledged that he previously felt "disloyal" for being "joyful" without his mother.

"I felt like I had to be sad and I had to be emotionally numb in order to prove to her that I missed her," he said.

"But the reality is... she just wanted me to be happy."

The revelations come as Harry and Meghan prepare for a trip to Brussels, where they will attend the opening of The Lost Screen Memorial.

This memorial is designed to be a reminder of the children and families affected by online harm.

Both Harry and Meghan are set to deliver keynote speeches at the event.

Their team say their remarks are set to "underline the importance of turning commitments into meaningful action and ensuring that the experiences of children and their families remain central to decisions about the digital future."

The event will finish with "a testimony from Sandra Spitaels, mother of Glenn, offering a deeply personal perspective on the impact of online harm on families."

The opening of the memorial will also feature a keynote address by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, followed by remarks from MEP Antonio López-Istúriz, the formal host of the event and First Vice-Chair of the Child Rights Intergroup.

President Metsola will lead a small group, including MEP López-Istúriz, the Duke and Duchess, Emilio Puccio and protocol officers, through the exhibition.

While Harry and Meghan have attended similar events before and feel passionately about protecting children from online harm, they have received some criticism for this upcoming trip.