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William grieved in private after Diana's death while 'sensitive' Harry was more open about his struggles: Expert

Emotional sensitivity expert Dr Tracy Thomas told MEAWW that Prince Harry is naturally more emotionally sensitive, while Prince William is more focused and reticent
UPDATED FEB 28, 2020
Prince Harry and Prince William (Getty Images)
Prince Harry and Prince William (Getty Images)

Princess Diana's death in a car crash in 1997 was a huge loss for both Prince William and Prince Harry, who were 15 and 12 years old, respectively, at the time. Dealing with the demise of your mother, who was also one of Britain's most beloved royals, in your childhood can be devastating. And both the princes have grieved in different ways.

Diana's death has been a huge trigger for Harry who has been more open about his own struggles with grief, at least in recent years. His elder brother, Prince William, on the other hand, has a very different way of dealing with his emotions and hurt — he has been so private that sometimes he might even appear to be reticent and stoic.

Emotional sensitivity expert Dr Tracy Thomas explains that every individual has their own different emotional constitutions, basically implying some are more emotionally sensitive than others.

"It doesn't mean that one is better than the other or one cares more. It only means that how they process the world emotionally is different," Dr Thomas told MEA WorldWide (MEAWW).

Dr Thomas refers to the time when Kate Middleton was introduced to the world as Prince William's wife and the two were often hunted by the press. "Somehow William was able to maintain an emotional capacity through it and to find his way to keeping his focus on his family and duty as a priority."

"People who are more emotionally strong don't need to express as much stuff," she shared. She added that William is capable of dealing with his own emotions himself and does not have to express it and share it with everybody.

She added how it may look like William is not expressing them but more accurately, he "looks like he is very capable of being less reactive and more connected to his higher purpose which is his family, it is leading the country, it is in making a great influence, and it seems like William is able to balance more." 

On the other hand, Harry seems to be someone who is more emotionally sensitive and he naturally more likely to expresses emotions. "You can see it in his happiness, you can see it in his smile, you can see it when he says how much he loved his mother. Harry is more emotionally sensitive which means he has a gift of connecting to things emotionally and then processing emotionally."

"How emotional sensitivity works is that it can be your greatest gift and your greatest curse, meaning that Harry can feel more pain, more struggle, more trauma,  and be more impacted by his emotions than William," Dr Thomas revealed.

While speaking about how the trauma of losing his Princess Diana affected Harry, Dr Thomas explained that experiences in the past can have people reacting to it in the present without realizing it. "What's happening is the trauma from having the press ultimately control his mother’s life and control a lot of his life, that's the thing that is a key factor in Harry not wanting something to happen, not wanting to repeat the past."

"However, one of the big challenges with that is whenever people are trying to not repeat the past, interestingly they end up doing that exact thing. So what's more important is that Harry and Meghan decide exactly how they want their future to be and only make decisions about what they want their future to look like," she shared. 

"If you’re doing something just because you don't want something to happen, the likelihood that it will happen is actually much more. This is a very big part of what is going on. Running away from something never really works," Dr Thomas explained. 

The couple will be stepping down as senior members of the royal family on March 31.

RELATED TOPICS KATE MIDDLETON MEGHAN MARKLE PRINCE WILLIAM PRINCE HARRY
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