Speaking at the first This Can Happen conference, Prince William has joined fellow campaigners and familiar friends as he took his campaign for better well-being in the work place to the top-level conference.
The conference was held in London alongside the royal’s friend Neil Laybourn, with whom he has been highlighting the issue of mental health in males.
William joined a session on mental health – hosted by broadcaster Tina Daheley, who chaired the Royal Foundation Forum when Meghan Markle appeared alongside Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and William — and took part in an interactive training workshop being piloted by a selection of companies in Britain as part of an effort to recognize the well-being of staff.
Speaking to an audience, William said that when he and Kate welcomed children of their own – Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and Prince Louis, 7-months.
“The relation between the job and the personal life was what really took me over the edge. And I started feeling things that I’ve never felt before. And I got very sad and very down about this particular family,” he said. “You start to take away bits of the job and keep them in your body. And of course, you don’t want to share with your loved ones because you just don’t want to bring that sort of stuff home.”
He continued, “So the only place you can talk about it is at work and if you don’t necessarily have the right tools or the right environment at work, you can see why things can snowball and get quite bad.”
Laybourn later told reporters, “What the Duke said today took everyone by surprise. Being a guy and being socially conditioned, whether you’re in the royal family or not, to keep in your feelings and then beat that to speak about them is great.”
He added, “It’s quite something for him, in his position, to say, ‘You’re not infallible.’ People need that inspiration from leaders and they need to hear it from someone like Prince William.”
Watch William speak below:
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