Prince Harry was ‘afraid’ to return to UK for Prince Philip’s funeral

Prince Harry was “afraid” to return to the UK for the April funeral of his late grandfather Prince Philip and felt anxious that it would trigger past trauma.

“I was worried about it, I was afraid about it,” the 36-year-old royal told the Associated Press on Friday while discussing his new mental health program on Apple TV+, “The Me You Can’t See.”

Harry — who said in the series’ Thursday premiere that he suffered panic attacks and would binge-drink following the death of his mother, Princess Diana — relied on tactics learned in therapy to help get him through Philip’s memorial service.

“Going through the motions and being able to lean on the toolbox, and lean on the learnings that I’ve grown from over the past, it definitely made it a lot easier, but the heart still pounds,” he said.

Harry, who took part in an EDMR treatment (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) in the series, also noted how he grappled with unsettling feelings upon his return to London.

“For most of my life I always felt worried, concerned, a little bit tense and uptight whenever I fly back into the UK, whenever I fly back into London,” Harry said, noting the city has been a “trigger” for him since losing his mother.

Diana tragically died in August 1997 after she was involved in a car accident while being chased by the paparazzi in Paris. Harry was 12 years old at the time.

Harry, who started therapy four years ago, split from the royal family last year with wife Meghan Markle. A month before Philip’s passing, the Sussexes spoke about their hardships as members of the royal family in a bombshell interview with Winfrey.

Harry returned the to UK for Philip’s funeral last month while a heavily pregnant Meghan, 39, stayed at the couple’s home in California. They’re expecting a daughter this summer.

While overseas for the services, Harry reunited with his family, including older brother Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton.

Both Harry and William, 38, blasted BBC chiefs and journalist Martin Bashir on Thursday for tricking Diana into giving her infamous “Panorama” interview in 1995, stating it fueled her “fear, paranoia and isolation.”