(CNN)Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle recently spoke with Oprah Winfrey about their struggles, in the first interview they’ve given since quitting as working members of the royal family last year. What we learned from clips released in advance of the interview’s airing on March 7: It’s not easy being a prince.
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For all of his many privileges, it’s easy to feel bad for Harry, who grew up in the spotlight, and for Meghan, who many would say both pursued that attention and fought it. Since he was small, Harry’s life was one of being followed, trailed. He was young when his mother, Princess Diana, was pursued to her death by paparazzi, but old enough to remember.
Childhood trauma is common, according to statistics cited by the Department of Veterans Affairs: About 60% of men and 50% of women have experienced some trauma in their lives. That trauma affects them as adults, showing up in an inability to regulate their emotions, sleep well, or have proper immune function. Post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD) can happen weeks or many years after a traumatic event. Many people don’t get help because they think it’s normal to feel frightened or unsettled. But becoming a parent, like Harry, can trigger effects of PTSD, as parenting makes a person aware of dynamics that were present when they were a child.
