Prince Harry has been given a new two-word nickname, "grief grifter", following his recent appearance on Masterclass, where he discussed his lifelong battle with grief after the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
The Duke of Sussex appeared in an episode of the online learning platform, reportedly earning up to an estimated $100,000 (£72,000) for his participation. The label was applied by broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard, who spoke to Fox News Digital.
Commentator criticises Duke's approach
Chard said: "Prince Harry has spoken extensively about his emotional scars and unresolved grief surrounding the death of his mother." She added: "However, Harry continuously paints himself a victim. Blame always falls on someone else. He realises people's interest in Diana and, let's not forget, it makes a quick buck. It's seen as a cash grab, cashing in on his mother's death. It plays into the reported title 'Grief Grifter.'"
Chard acknowledged the public's sympathy for the Duke and his brother, saying: "The public understands the heartache Harry and William must have endured after their mother passed away. Grief affects people in different ways, and both boys endured divergent paths of grief."
Harry opens up about adrenaline crash
The nickname follows Harry's candid interview in the Masterclass episode, where he spoke about the "adrenaline crash" he experienced after arriving in Canada in 2019, ahead of his and Meghan Markle's decision to step back from the Royal Family.
He told the programme: "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."
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."
Filmed in California with neuroscientist
The programme, filmed earlier this summer in California, sees Harry join neuroscientist Dr Mary-Frances O'Connor to explore the effects of grief on the brain and body. He discusses his own experience of losing his mother at the age of 12 and the long-lasting impact it has had on him.
Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a Paris car crash in 1997. Harry says in the episode: "For 15, 20 years, when I was being asked, 'Are you okay?' My response was, 'I'm fine.' It was numbness, emotional shutdown. And without knowing it, adrenaline was pushing me, was driving me."
He added: "It was the driving force of what led me to join the military at the age of 20. It was the perfect distraction. I couldn't really think about much else apart from the task at hand."
After returning from his second tour in Afghanistan in 2013, Harry explains how he began to recognise that his military experiences had triggered earlier trauma. "The things that I saw, the things I experienced, appeared to be a trigger for other traumas that had stored themselves within me," he says.
He recalls: "I started to realise that I probably had become seriously depleted when just putting a simple dress shirt on — the tightening of the collar — literally felt like I was suffocating, and I would be experiencing panic attacks just in the car on the way to work. And that's when I realised, 'Okay, there's something bigger, there's something else that you need to look into here.'"
